Challenge Accepted
by Lmv16
Summary: Anakin 'Ana' Cooper is Jared's little sister, and 15 years old. When her brother and friends all start to act weird, Ana takes it upon herself to figure out what's going on. But a certain wolf imprinting on her makes her job a whole lot tougher. Rated T for safety. Jared/Kim Sam/Emily Paul/Rachel Jacob/OC
1. Introduction

_**Hi. I know, I should be working on my Hunter Bradley story, but I've got no ideas, and I thought I'd try my hand at a Jacob Black story. So, just so y'all know, it's set during New Moon, but Edward didn't leave. I personally don't like Bella/Jacob pairings, and Nessie/Jacob pairings I'm okay with, I just prefer when Jacob is with an original character. It's kind of weird for me to write this sense one of my best friends' name is Jacob, but oh well; I'll get over it. So, read, message, comment, y'all know the drill.**_

**Summary: Anakin 'Ana' Cooper is Jared's little sister, and 15 years old. When her brother and friends all start to act weird, Ana takes it upon herself to figure out what's going on. But a certain wolf imprinting on her makes her job a whole lot tougher.**

We used to be friends. Best friends, actually. But that all changed when Sam Uley changed them. First it was my brother, and then it was Paul. After that, Embry joined, and then Jacob. Next was Quil, and then Seth and Leah joined. Well, Leah I didn't care about so much, but the others I did. Being a sophomore with friends that are all juniors or seniors is hard enough without them completely ignoring you. Paul and my brother are both seniors, Jacob, Embry, and Quil are all juniors, and Seth and I are both sophomores. Leah and Sam both already graduated, but like I already said, I didn't care about them much.

When my brother joined Sam, I didn't really care as much. Yeah, it looked like maybe he was on steroids or something, but I know Jared. He'd never do drugs, no way. It was when he started sneaking out at night, skipping school, and totally ignoring me that I started to have issues with it. When Paul went, I was surprisingly okay with it. I mean, I didn't hang out with the two of them that much, and being that Paul and I had dated earlier that year, it was still awkward between the two of us. Once Embry left, I was starting to realize that this wasn't just about to stop. At the time, Jacob was my all-time best friend, and him leaving just about broke my heart.

At that point, I wanted nothing more than to figure out what it was that caused my friends and brother to join Sam. Quil and Seth both begged me to leave it alone, but I didn't want to. The fact that they didn't seem to want to know, or just didn't care enough. Either way, once Quil joined the group, I was dead-set to figure out what was going on. The only thing I didn't expect was for Seth to figure out a way to distract me from it.

Seth would offer to tutor me in the subjects I was bad at, but he was good at. He would ask me to tutor him in all the other subjects. Because a new year was starting, he changed his schedule around so we would be in the same ceramics class; what he didn't account for was for Jacob to also be in the class. But it wasn't until Seth finally joined the group, along with his sister Leah that I decided enough was enough; I HAD to figure out what was going on.

My mission, should I choose to accept it, was to figure out what Jared and my friends were doing. I had to do whatever it takes, even if it meant lying to my brother, or flirting with my ex. I had to ask myself, did I accept this mission? But I knew that I couldn't go on not knowing why my brother and friends abandoned me for Sam Uley. My mission, I accepted. It would be a challenge, I knew; Seth now sat with Jacob in ceramics, and both now refused to look at me. None of the guys would.

This challenge, no matter how hard, had to be done. My name is Anakin Cooper. Challenge Accepted.


	2. Seth

_**First, I need to thank the people who commented on the intro to this story. So, thank you to the following:**_

_**Taurus Pixie**_

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_**Secondly, I'm glad people like this story already, and can't wait to see where this goes. So, without further a due, here is chapter 2! :)**_

This plan had to be thought out. There was no way I could go into this with no idea of what I was going to do. I had to have thought about it for hours, days even, to no avail. Jared no longer gave me rides to school, so I couldn't go to him; yeah, he's my brother, but I almost never even see him anymore. Neither Jacob, Embry, nor Quil would even look at me, and Paul avoided me at all costs. The only one I could go to was Seth. I did have some classes with him, and of the four he was in, I sat next to him in two. He always sat with Jacob in ceramics, now, but I could still make my move in that class.

My challenge seemed simple; find out why everyone is suddenly avoiding me. But I knew it wouldn't be easy. Besides, where's the fun in simplicity? The harder, the better! My philosophy was, difficult equals fun, and I intended to make this as fun as I could. Just because my friends and brother didn't seem to want to have anything to do with me, didn't mean I couldn't have fun figuring it out.

Eventually, I decided on a plan of action. I would go to Seth, and pester him until he gave in. If that didn't work, I would go to Jared. I would eventually make my way around the group, ending with Jacob. My ex, Paul, would be right after Jared; I was prepared to flirt with him to get my information. I knew that sounded selfish, but if you think about what Paul used to do, then it wasn't really that bad. Paul used to date any girl he could get his hands on, and drop her as soon as he saw someone better. After he and I dated, he stopped, but I knew it would be easy to convince him I still liked him. A few tears, and my flirting skills, would come in handy.

I decided to put my plan into motion a few weeks after Seth joined the group. I walked into my second hour class, prepared, and sat in my seat. Seth walked in right before the bell rang and sat next to me; our seats are assigned, and Clearwater and Cooper are right next to each other. Once he sat down, I turned in my seat slightly, facing him.

"Hey, Seth," simple, right? Short, sweet, and to the point.

Seth only turned slightly, muttering a quiet, "hi," before turning his attention back to the front.

I frowned and took a minute to study him. Just like the others, he had grown some serious muscle, and had to have grown at least a foot. He used to be only an inch taller than me, but now he was much taller. He was only 15, yet he could have easily of passed for 20 or 21. Dark purple bags rested under his eyes, and I could feel the heat radiating off of him. He wore a simple a white t-shirt, and khaki shorts. His black hair, which was previously to his shoulders, was cut, and barely lay on his forehead.

"Seth, are you sick, honey?" I asked in concern, placing a hand on his arm.

Seth jerked his arm from my grasp, mumbling that he was fine. I narrowed my eyes. "You're not fine, Seth, you're burning up," I objected, "And you never have bags under your eyes!"

"I said I'm fine, Ana!" Seth growled, still not looking at me. I noticed that he started to shake slightly, his hands barely able to hold onto his pencil.

"Seth, please, look at me!" I begged him, placing my hand on his shaking one. He froze as I touched him, and slowly turned so he was looking at me. His light brown eyes finally met my strange icy-blue ones and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Seth," I whispered, "What's happened to you?"

"I-I can't tell you; I'm sorry, Ana," was all he said before shrugging off my hand and turning back to the front.

I turned to the front as well, and mentally cursed myself. My plan had been full-proof, and Seth still managed to keep the secret from me. I would have to do better in third hour if I wanted to figure all this out. Sighing quietly to myself, I got out my notes and started paying attention to the teacher. The whole time, Seth sat rigid next to me.

Once the bell rang, I shoved my stuff into my backpack and rushed to my locker. Exchanging my first and second hour stuff for my third to fifth hour stuff, I shut my locker and got to my third hour quickly. Spotting Seth in his seat, I slid in my seat next to him and pulled out my folder. Chancing a glance at Seth, I found he was ignoring my presence and trying to finish last night's homework before the bell rang.

Pulling out my own completed homework, I slid it towards him. "Seth, here, at least get the correct answers," I offered.

Seth glanced up and took the sheet. "Thanks," he mumbled when he gave it back a minute later.

"No problem," I said. It was silent for a few moments before I said, "So, um, think you could take a little time later to help me out with my math?" I asked; it was an innocent question, after all, and Seth knew how bad I was at math. "I really don't want to start failing again," I added.

With a heavy sigh, Seth turned towards me fully. "Ana, I know what you're trying to do, and it won't work. All you need to know is that Sam is helping me, him and the others. It's too dangerous for you to hang out with me, anymore; I'm sorry, Anakin, but that's the truth," with that, Seth turned and looked at the front, where our teacher was beginning her lecture. Suddenly, I was happy that I sat at the back, for it made it easier to do what I did next; I sighed quietly to myself and buried my head in my arms. So much for that plan.

By the time I got to my sixth hour, my last class with Seth and my only class with Jacob, I was certain that there was no way I was going to get my information from him. But when I walked in, I saw, in confusion, that he wasn't there. Was he skipping to avoid me? I only shook my head and placed my ring and bracelet in a pocket of my backpack before setting it under my table. Two people and I were the only ones not done yet. Jacob and Seth both skipped so much that they had to come in during homeroom and after school a lot to get to where they were actually further than me. I was planning on staying after school to finish.

Grabbing my chair, I stood on it to reach my project on the top of the cabinet, placing my bag-covered project on the counter, reaching back up to grab my canvas and tools. The project was to make a statue of a wolf. Each person had done one in a different position, and some even did families of them. Mine was in the howling at the moon position, and I would have been done long ago if I wasn't such a freak for detail.

"Jacob, I want you to sit with Anakin, today; as you, Seth, and Anakin are the only ones not yet done, I feel it would be easier for one table to be dirty instead of two," I heard the teacher say. I nearly fell off my chair from the shock, grabbing onto the top of the cabinet to regain my balance.

"Yes, ma'am," Jacob replied in that gruff, husky voice of his. Retrieving my stuff, I quickly claimed my spot of the table, suddenly glad I always sat at the edge. "Hey," Jacob said when he reached the table.

"Hi," I said quietly, not looking up from my project. I heard him sigh before he sat down and spread out his own canvas, leaving a space between us. Without looking at him, I asked, "So, where's Seth?"

Jacob took his time answering, continuing his work of his own wolf in the running position before he answered me. "He got sick," was all he offered.

I stopped my work and looked at him. "I knew he was sick! His skin was hot as Hell this morning!" I exclaimed.

Jacob glanced up at me, turning away for a second before doing what could only be described as a double take. His chocolaty-brown eyes met my ice-blue ones and he froze. He looked at me strangely, as if he was suddenly seeing me in an all-new light. The only way to really describe it was like a women seeing her new-born baby for the first time, a blind man seeing the sun for the first time, or a man about to get married seeing his fiancé for the very first time in her wedding dress as she walked down the aisle. Like I said, it was a very strange look, and after what felt like an eternity but was really just a few seconds, I looked away. I tried my hardest to focus on my project, but I found it nearly impossible.

That look Jacob gave me; what did it mean? He looked at me as though I was the only thing keeping him on the earth, and I suddenly felt a pull to him myself. My hands trembled as I tried to smooth out my project, but I finally got control of myself and forced myself to calm down.

Whatever just happened, didn't affect my plan. I could continue tomorrow with Jared. Eventually, I took a deep breath and said, "Sweetie, I don't know what that was about, but let's not do that again."

"Sorry," was all Jacob said. We were silent until the end of class, when Jacob said, "Anakin, Seth told me what you're trying to do and I have to tell you to stop; we're too dangerous, and none of us want to see you hurt; especially Jared or me. Please, stop trying to find out why we joined with Sam; he's helping us, and you're only going to get yourself into trouble trying to find out," he left before I could respond, leaving me speechless.

The rest of my day went by quickly, including after school when I came in to finish my project. My mind was on what Jacob said; why did he think I would just listen to him? By telling me to stop trying to figure out why they left me, Jacob was challenging me to figure it out. So, as I walked home, I decided that this was a part of my challenge. And as I said before, Challenge Accepted.

Once I made it home, I pulled out my keys and unlocked the front door, determined to talk to Jared, now sooner rather than later. Sadly, he wasn't home, and, to my horror, there was also no food. With a groan, I emptied my backpack, took some money from the groceries jar, and got on my bike.

Half an hour later, I was on my way home with my backpack full of food when something in the forest caught my eye. Stopping, I put one foot on the ground and looked for whatever it was that had caught my attention. After waiting for a whole minute, I saw nothing and dismissed it as part of my imagination before going on. Nothing else happened for the rest of the night. My confrontation with my older brother would have to wait until tomorrow.


	3. Jared and Paul

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_**Y'all commenting made my day! :D**_

My confrontation with Jared ended up waiting until the weekend. He avoided me for the rest of the week, and I considered skipping him and coming back to him later. But coming home from school that Friday and seeing him in the living room changed my mind.

He wore a black shirt, tight against his skin, and shorts. Why was he wearing shorts? It was freezing outside! I myself had gone to school in a pair of sweatpants and my favorite hoodie. We were due for some snow later that night, but knowing La Push, it would turn into rain, turning any snow on the ground into slush instantly. Anyway, he was watching the news. It was a story I'd seen of a lot lately; people were going missing, and large bears or something were being spotted.

"Another woman has gone missing near Seattle; we believe it to be related to all of the other missing person's cases in the past few months, possibly connected to the recent reports of bears in the area. We are strongly suggesting people to stay out of the forests, and travel in groups."

I had thought the case strange at first; who had enough skills to be able to kidnap so many people in such a short amount of time without getting caught? The elders took it seriously, but at the same time, they weren't worried, which confused me; shouldn't they be worried about the threat coming here?

I blinked when I saw Jared looking at me, a strangely blank look on his face. Strange, because usually Jared was all smiles and laughs, so seeing him with a blank face was just plain weird.

"Anakin," he said, his voice low and in slightly in a tone that scared me.

"Hey, Jared; long time, no see!" I started, but Jared's blank face contorted to a glare. I flinched.

"Seth told me you were trying to get information out of him, and Jake told me some particularly interesting news; Anakin, what are you doing?" the glare disappeared at the question, to be replaced with a look with desperation and concern.

"I… I'm just trying to figure out why you and the others abandoned me," I said it as strongly as I could, but to my horror, my voice shook. Why was my voice shaking? He's just my brother, he'd never hurt me!

Jared stood up, his head shaking from side to side. He walked towards me, stopping just a foot away from me. "Ana, I didn't abandon you; by staying away, I'm protecting you. You have to understand that," he said.

My blue eyes narrowed. "Protecting me from what? I'm a big girl, Jared, I can take care of myself," I said, eyes blazing. I couldn't keep the harshness from my voice, no matter how hard I tried. But, at the same time, I couldn't help but to feel just a little insulted that Jared thought I needed protection. Without blinking, I added, "You should know; you thought me everything I know." It was a challenge, and he knew it.

He stared at me for a second, impressed, before he started to chuckle. I raised an eyebrow as he calmed down, his head now shaking again. "I did teach you everything, didn't I?" he murmured to himself, smiling, before going back to the serious, blank look. "Either way, I have to warn you; the forest is dangerous, and I don't want to see you hurt, none of us do. That's why I have to ask you to stop what you're doing, and stay away from us; we're dangerous, now."

As truthful as he looked, I still couldn't believe him; why would staying away from him and the others protect me? "Oh, that's bullshit and you know it!" I exclaimed. Jared looked at me, an unbelieving look on his face, like he couldn't believe I had just cussed at him. "You abandoned me! You and all the others! I have every right to know what's going on!"

"I'm only trying to protect you, Ana! But I can't do that if you won't stay away from us!" Jared's voice got a little higher, not yet yelling, but pretty close. He was starting to shake violently, which scared me immensely, although I didn't say anything. His brown eyes were filled with anger, an emotion I'd never seen in him before.

My eyes narrowed, and something on his arm caught my attention. Just under the sleeve on his left arm, I could see the bottom of a tattoo. Now THAT was something I NEVER expected him to get. "You got a tattoo?!"

Jared's glare intensified, as did his shaking. He pushed past me, leaving the house and slamming the door loudly behind him. The slam made me jump. I stared at the door, confused, and eventually wondered over to the living room couch. I picked up the T.V. remote and turned it off, sitting on the couch. Obviously, I wasn't going to get any information from Jared; the next person on my list was Paul, but I wondered if he would do the same thing Jared just did.

_Get a grip, Anakin! _I ridiculed myself, pushing my light brown bangs out of my face. The shorter brown locks fell back over my forehead, ending right above my eyes, when I let go, desperately needing a trim. I bowed my head slightly, closing my eyes, which allowed my long, wavy, hair to fall over my shoulders. I knew that Paul had a temper; that was what caused me to break up with him after three months of dating. But I also knew how to make Paul break, loose his self-control, and maybe even tell me.

Getting Paul to tell me would be its own challenge, but I knew I could do it. I had accepted this challenge; I had to follow it through. So, with that in mind, I stood up, shouldered my backpack, and made my way up to my room to do my homework for the weekend.

By the time Monday came around, I had a plan. The only reason Paul and I went out, he said, was because I was good at flirting and he thought I was cute. I was a freshman at the time, Paul a junior with Jared, and I hadn't had a boyfriend, or my first kiss, yet. Paul was a player, and had been sense he entered middle school, but I knew that being my brother's best friend, he wouldn't try anything with me. Jared had basically threatened him that if he hurt me, he would ruin Paul's reputation as a tough guy.

We dated for three and a half months, but Paul got mad at me for deciding to spend a day with Seth, Quil, Embry, and Jacob. That caused me to break up with him; Paul and jealousy was not a pretty picture. A few days later, Paul apologized and admitted that he went over the line, and we promised each other that we'd remain friends. That had been six months ago, and it was still awkward between us, but I had to push past that.

My plan was simple; flirt with Paul until he gave me the information. If he somehow managed to keep it from me, then I'd move on to Embry. Quil would be after him, and then Jacob. Something about Jacob was bothering me, though; after he gave me that weird look last week, I'd often find him looking at me in ceramics, or at lunch. And it wasn't a look that was curious or anything, nor was it the look he'd given me that day our eyes met. It was a look that said he was concerned for me, and at the same time, adored me. It was weird, and I had no idea what to make of it.

Walking into school that morning, I made my way to my locker, eager to start my plan. My favorite pair of worn, dark jeans and my favorite navy blue hoodie kept me warm, something I needed in the usual La Push weather. Placing my iPod into the front pocket of my hoodie, I checked my phone, and glanced up. Paul's locker was only a few lockers away from mine, making it easy for me to watch out for him. Sure enough, Paul walked in a few minutes later, strangely alone.

"Hey, Paul," I said, walking over to him and putting my phone in my pocket next to my iPod. "Long time, no talk," I know, similar to what I said to Jared, but cut me some slack.

Paul glanced over at me, uttering a single, "Hey," before turning back to his locker.

"Okay; so um, I was wondering if-" I started, only for Paul to cut me off.

"Ana, Jared told what you're trying to do; nice try, but you're not going to get anything out of me. Only one person can tell you, anyways, and he's not willing enough to tell you, afraid you might run off screaming or some shit," Paul said. Before I could reply, he added, "It's really better for you to just stay away from us; I'm sorry," with that, he closed his locker, turned, and walked away.

My jaw dropped as I watched walk away. Well, there went that plan. Next on my list was Embry; Jacob's best friend and the most quiet of the group. If I asked him, he might not even answer, but I had to try. I leaned against the lockers, running a hand over my face. Sighing, I went back to my locker, got what I needed for my first two classes, and made my way to my first hour.

On the way, I saw the group of boys I used to call my friends. I paused, looking at them. All six looked similar now, all with the same short hair, the same rippling muscles; yet, I could still tell them apart. Jared was obviously one of the bigger two, with dark brown eyes, a sharp contrast to my own ice-blue. Paul's hair was slightly shorter than Jared's, and his eyes were more grey-silver. Quil had a buzz-cut with dark-chocolate eyes, while Embry had light brown eyes and hair like most normal guys had. Seth was the smallest of the group, his eyes dark, like Jared's, but still lighter, and his hair was black. Lastly was Jacob, the only one to actually notice me standing there. His chocolate-brown eyes bored into mine, almost piercing my soul with how he was staring at me. His brown hair, a rich, chocolate-brown like his eyes, was cut short, making him look a lot hotter than he did with long hair.

Whoa, hotter? What am I saying? Jacob was my best friend before he joined them, why should I think any different of him now? Sure, he has beautiful eyes, hair that any girl would just love to run their hands through, a great personality, and no! I have to stop thinking like that!

I blinked and looked away, breaking our eye contact. _Stop it!_ I thought to myself, mentally face-palming. Shaking my head once, I took a deep breath and walked forward, keeping my head up without making eye-contact with him. Shouldering past Jacob, one of his hands touched my own, sending sparks up and down my body. I forced myself to speed up, getting to my first hour in record time, and sitting down in my seat. The sparks in my body were still going strong, showing no signs of fading away anytime soon. _What in the Hell…?_

_**I know, short, but I hope you all liked it! And two updates in one day, I'm on a role! I hope everyone liked this chapter, and I hope to be up to say, 15 comments for the next chapter!:)**_


	4. Jacob's Side

_**First, gotta thank the following for commenting:**_

_**Chocolatelover12**_

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_**Secondly, I wanted to thank HunterBradley for giving me the idea of Jacob's nickname for Anakin. Thank you! **_

_**Thirdly, I wanted to reach fifteen comments, but sense I'm at fourteen just a few days after publishing the chapter, and I have an idea, I decided to go ahead and update. Hope you all enjoy it, and I would LOVE to get at least CLOSE to 20 comments. Please and thank you! **___

Jacob's Point of View

Becoming a werewolf wasn't something I ever thought I would be. Sure, I'd heard the legends; I knew that my dad believed they were real, but I always thought that legends were what they were. Myths, that aren't real, like Dracula, the Lock Ness Monster, and Bloody Mary. But shaking violently when I get mad and then bursting into a large furry creature isn't my idea of a myth. Especially when I was forced to leave my friends behind for their safety.

The first thing I wanted to do after I managed to phase back, naked and scared, was to find Anakin and tell her. But Sam forbad me from talking to her, let alone seeing her. He was convinced that if I told her even though she had no real reason to know, then she would go and tell someone and we'd all end up under the microscope. So, no matter how much it hurt me, and no matter how much it probably hurt her, I had to stay away from her. Even Jared, her brother, was ordered to keep as much distance between him and his little sister as he could. But I told myself that she still had Quil and Seth, neither of who was supposed to phase for a while; Seth wasn't even going to phase if the vampires left within a few years.

Quil, of course, phased a month and a half after I did. He was happy to have all of us back, but at the same time, he was sad to have to leave Anakin, who, as he said, was 'sad all of her friends and brother left' but, 'should be okay with Seth to help her through things.' Seth wasn't even supposed to phase for another year or so, if he phased at all, but then his sister, Leah, changed history by phasing. Seth saw her phase, which scared him so bad that he phased as well. Now Anakin was alone.

Just thinking about her made me shake; her dad died when she and Jared were young, and her mother had been engrossed in her work ever sense. She was always at my house growing up, while Jared was always with Paul, but we were all still friends with each other. Seth Clearwater, Embry Call, and Quil Atera were at my house a lot, too, so we all became pretty close. When Leah got old enough to drive, she would drive Seth and Anakin to my house, which Jared took over when he got his license, soon after Sam broke up with Leah for her cousin Emily. That was how Jared and Paul become a part of our group more socially, although we didn't hang out with them all that much.

It wasn't until Paul and Anakin started to date, though, that the seven of us hung out more, which stopped when the two broke up. Even when she had a boyfriend, though, she didn't let him call her my special name for her. Everyone called her Ana. Hell, even I called her Ana sometimes. But most of the time, I called her Ani, which at first she hated. I got the nickname from Star Wars: Phantom Menace, where the character who would eventually become Darth Vader is a little boy named Anakin, whose nickname is Ani. After a while, she grew to like it, and I'm the only one she lets call her that. It was a something special and privet between the two of us- she never told anyone where I got the nickname and neither did I- so I was grateful that we still had that, even if I did have to keep my distance from her.

But it wasn't until that one day that my life changed, hopefully for the better. It was lunch, and the five of us older boys were already sitting, eating lunch. Seth showed up while we were busy stuffing our faces, an urgent look on his face.

"Guys, we have a problem," he said as he sat down, placing his binder and a notebook on the table with his lunch bag on it.

"Did you forget your homework at home again?" Jared asked, pausing in his eating to raise an eyebrow at the youngest wolf.

Seth glared at him, before shaking his head. "No! It's Anakin," that got my attention. I stopped eating and turned towards him, listening intently. "She's getting curious; she was asking me all sorts of questions in second and third hour, but I managed to sit in a different seat in fifth hour," he explained.

All of us looked at Jared when Seth finished; Jared was not only Anakin's brother, but also the beta of the pack. When Sam wasn't there, Jared was in charge. He took a deep breath and his eyes zeroed in on something behind me. I didn't even have to turn to know he was looking at his sister. "Thanks, Seth; I'll talk to her this weekend. But until then, just don't talk to her, and try to ignore her as best you can."

"I have one more class with her," Seth pointed out, "Ceramics."

"I'm in the class, too, Seth," I reminded him. "Just sit next to me."

"Actually, after lunch, just go on home and tell Sam," Jared said, taking a bite out of his sandwich, "He'll want to know soon as possible."

Seth nodded and scarfed down his lunch. By the time I got to Ceramics, I saw Anakin already on a chair, her back to me, as she got her project from the top of the cabinets.

"Jacob, I want you to sit with Anakin, today; as you, Seth, and Anakin are the only ones not yet done, I feel it would be easier for one table to be dirty instead of two," the teacher said to me once I sat down. I wanted to deny it, not sit with her, but I had to respect a teacher.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied, irritated. Grabbing my stuff, I walked over to the table Anakin was at and placed my stuff under the table. My project itself was on the pillow-case I was using as a canvas and I sat down. Taking a deep breath, I inhaled her intoxicating scent, mixed in with the scent of clay. "Hey," I eventually said.

"Hi," she said her voice soft as velvet. She didn't even look at me, focusing entirely on her project. "So, where's Seth?" she asked.

I took my time answering, not entirely sure how to. Eventually, I said, "He got sick."

"I knew he was sick! His skin was hot as Hell this morning!" she exclaimed, stopping with her work to look at me.

I glanced over at her, looking away, and quickly looking back at her. My brown eyes met her ice-blue ones and I knew. Gravity wasn't holding me to earth anymore, she was. Anakin quickly looked away, and I saw her hands shaking. My own were shaking as well, but I managed to calm down before she did.

After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and said, "Sweetie, I don't know what that was about, but let's not do that again."

"Sorry," after that, we didn't talk. The class went agonizingly slow, especially with her sitting right next to me. Eventually, at the end of class, I took a deep breath and said, "Anakin, Seth told me what you're trying to do and I have to tell you to stop; we're too dangerous, and none of us want to see you hurt; especially Jared or me. Please, stop trying to find out why we joined with Sam; he's helping us, and you're only going to get yourself into trouble trying to find out," with that, I left. I could feel her eyes on my back as she watched me leave. This would be a long next couple of days.

o.O

"You WHAT?!" Jared yelled at me.

"I kind of, maybe, imprinted, on, um, your sister," I stuttered out, looking anywhere but at him. My urge to be with Anakin was over-whelming, but I was doing my best to fight it.

"You better not hurt her, Black," Jared growled before he turned and stalked out of Sam and Emily's house. Everyone else watched him leave, slamming the door behind him, before turning their gazes on me. Well, except for Leah.

It was silent, until, "Congratulations, Jake," Sam patted my back, "Now you can tell her."

"I'm not going to tell her," I mumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and squeezing my eyes shut.

"Why not? You can be with her, now, we can get our friend back," Embry pointed out.

"I know that; I just don't want her to get hurt because of me," I said before standing up and leaving, "I'll see you later."

They just watched me leave. I ran to the forest and stripped, tying my cloths to my leg before phasing. By now, the process was more natural, and no longer hurt. I ran through the forest, letting the wind in my fur calm me down. Suddenly, that sweet scent I associated with Anakin hit my nose. Following it, I found her on her bike. I was curious now and followed her. She stopped at the small shop Embry's mom ran and went inside. A few minutes later, she came back out, the scents of different foods coming from her backpack. I followed her home, staying just inside the forest line.

My breath caught in my throat when she stopped, looking at the forest. Damn, she must have seen me. I heard her sigh, and she moved on. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was safe.

o.O

The rest of the week and weekend went by agonizingly slow. Jared refused to speak to me, but we all knew he'd eventually come around. When Monday finally came around, I was standing with him, Seth, Embry, and Quil; we were waiting for Paul. After a few minutes, he joined us, and the six of us hung around the hall, joking around, when I smelt it.

It was a strange, yet delicious mix of vanilla and chocolate. Anakin. I looked up, meeting her eyes. I was the only one who noticed her. She wore a pair of dark skinny jeans, a pair that I recognized as her favorite. Her hoodie was the one I gave her for her fifteenth birthday; I'd gone to visit my sister in Hawaii and bought it for her. It was navy blue and had the word Hawaii on it right above a pocket, where I could see her phone and iPod. Her eyes, that strange, icy-blue, looked right into mine, almost like she was searching for answers. After a few seconds, she approached us, passing me to get to her first hour. My hand brushed against hers as she passed, sending jolts of electricity up my arm. The feeling was amazing, and made me wish I was always holding her hand.

I blinked and watched her walk away from me, going faster than she was before our hands touched. Her light brown waves, some of them gathered in the hood of her hoodie, bounced lightly as she walked, sending the chocolate scent to me. The vanilla was, by default, her perfume. I took a deep breath, trying to make the scent last longer.

Yeah, my life just got complicated; well, more complicated than it was.

_**Sorry if it looks weird, my computer is being weird, but I hope you all liked it! Should I do more chapters in Jacob's point of view? Also, if anyone has any ideas, any criticism, please, don't hesitate to voice it. I need criticism to be a better writer, and I'm running out of ideas. But yeah, please comment and message if you have anything!:D**_


	5. Finding Out and a Trip to the Hospital

_**Hey, everyone! I got my new laptop! I'm so excited! I know that I should be working on a new chapter for PoW, but I don't have an idea for that story; I have an idea for THIS story! Ah-ha. Did anyone watch the Cardinals/Nationals game? Go Cards! 12 in 12, man! So excited! :D So I just learned that Jared's actual last name is Cameron… How was that even figured out, it's never said in the books. But anyway, sense I didn't know that, I'm keeping it as Cooper. It still starts with a C, so it's fine. Anyway, thanks to the following for commenting on my last chapter:**_

_**Tempest**_

_**Guest**_

_**d112hpfan**_

_**Taurus Pixie**_

_**HunterBradley**_

_**Enjoy the chapter! :)**_

I never did get to talk to Embry. Why? Let me explain.

After Jacob's hand brushed mine, the electricity it caused refused to die down until I saw him again in Ceramics. But even then, I couldn't get up the guts to talk to him, demand answers. I just couldn't.

After school that day, I left the house, hoping a walk would clear my head. Somehow, I knew that neither Embry nor Quil would likely answer my questions. Something in me told me that only Jacob would tell me. But why only him? Why not my brother, or Seth? Why only Jacob? My head reeled with all these questions, something I desperately wanted to stop.

Shaking my head, I shook away the questions and found myself at the cliffs. The same cliffs where the guys would often cliff dive. They used to take me, too, on the smaller cliffs, as this was the largest one in La Push.

Sitting down near the edge, I let one leg lay down straight while the other was bent at the knee. I wrapped my arms around my bent knee, leaning forward slightly. I could see the beach from my spot on the cliff, the path I had taken from the beach behind me. It was a beautiful, secluded spot, one I often went to when I needed to think. Well, at least before the guys all joined Sam, and started using this cliff more than the other ones.

A sudden feeling of being watched overcame me. Looking over my shoulder, I let my eyes scan the tree line. I saw nothing, and passed it off as my always over-active imagination. But, of course, the second I turned back to look at the beautiful scene in front of me, I heard a twig snap in the trees.

My body turned around quick as lightning, my eyes scanning the trees for anything that might have made that snap. "Whose there?" I called, standing up and taking a few steps forward. No one answered. I sighed. "Get a grip, Anakin, you're hearing things; you're just stressed. It was probably just an animal," I said to myself. I turned, only to gasp.

Standing in front of me was possibly one of the most beautiful men I have ever seen. His skin was pale, almost translucent, it was so white. He had high cheekbones, a muscular build, and a very attractive face. His eyes, though, were what threw me off; they were blood-red, which was definitely creepy. He smiled creepily at me and took a step forward towards me.

"You know, it isn't safe to be wondering around the woods by yourself," he said, his voice smooth as silk.

"W-who are you?" I asked, taking a step back.

He threw his head back and laughed a loud noise that sent shivers of fear down my spine. To be truthful, this man scared me. I had no idea who he was or where he came from, or _what _he was, for that matter. Faster than what I knew was possible, the man ran forward, so fast that if I had blinked, I would have missed it.

"Oh, you smell so delectable! I do wish there was a way that I would taste it forever, but alas, you'll only last a short time," he said, moving my hair aside to smell my neck. My body froze when I felt his lips on my neck, kissing it. I froze; his lips were so cold!

"G-get away f-from me!" I stuttered, trying to move away from him.

He laughed again and gripped my arm. "Oh, you're not going anywhere, princess. But don't worry, this'll only hurt a lot," he smirked at me before he started leaning in. His hand was cold, too, cold as ice. But the thing that was even weirder was that his skin felt hard as marble, smooth as glass, and, like I said, cold as ice. What was this thing?

When his lips touched my neck again, I felt a feeling of dread overcome me. This man was going to kill me, and I knew it. He would kill me, probably dump my body in the ocean, and I would never see my brother or friends again. I would never get to see what my life amounted too, I would never graduate, and I would never get married to the man of my dreams. Oh God, I was dyeing a virgin!

Suddenly, I heard a loud growl. The man froze and looked up. Surrounding us, there were about eight wolves. But these wolves were giant, more around the size of a horse than the size of a normal wolf. Of the eight, only two were looking at me. The second largest wolf, which had russet colored fur and chocolate brown eyes, and the third largest wolf, which had darker brown fur with a few streaks of black and lighter browns and dark brown eyes, were looking at me. The other five, the largest, jet-black wolf, a dark silver colored wolf, a chocolate-brown furred wolf, one with grey fur and black spots on its back, a sandy-colored wolf, and the smallest, a gray-colored wolf, were all looking at the man.

The man suddenly threw me down to the ground. The two wolves looking at me whimpered, but the other six only growled more at the man. He took off, the six wolves chasing after him. The other two whimpered some more, staying with me rather than going off with their pack.

"I-I'm okay. Just shaken," I assured them. The bigger one inched forward as I sat up and groaned. "Ow," my shoulder was killing me. It felt like maybe it was dislocated, and I couldn't move it.

The smaller wolf gently pressed his nose to my injured shoulder and I hissed in pain. Yep, it was dislocated. The wolf moved his nose, but stayed close enough that I could touch him if I wanted. My hand shook, but I slowly inched it forward until I touched the fur of the wolf. It made a strange noise at my touch, and I noticed how his fur was smooth, yet rough. The larger wolf whined, and I laughed.

"Alright, you can get some attention, too," I said, going to pet him, but the pain in my shoulder stopped me. "Ow, ow, ow! Never mind," I said in pain.

The two wolves looked at each other, and the smaller one nodded. Nodding back, the larger one ran into the forest, and behind a large tree.

"Where's he going?" I asked, running my hand through the smaller one's fur as he lay down next to me.

The wolf simply laid his head on his paws. I giggled and rubbed his head. Within a minute, I heard rustling in the forest. I looked up, expecting to see the other wolf, but, to my surprise, it was Jacob.

"Jacob? What are you doing here? Where's the other wolf?" I asked.

"Ana, we need to get you to the hospital; your shoulder's dislocated." He said, ignoring my question.

"Where's the other wolf?" I asked again, standing up to face him. It was pointless either way; Jacob had a good seven inches on me. He towered over me, but I didn't back down; I refused to.

Jacob sighed, seeing the determined look on my face. "I was the other wolf,"

I looked at him for a few seconds, trying to determine if he was joking. I was waiting for someone with a camera and Aston Kutcher to come out of the forest saying I'd been Punk'd. But, no one came. "You're serious? You really expect me to believe that that other wolf was you? Jake, be realistic!" I criticized.

Jacob frowned, "I'm being serious, Ani. That thing that had you was a vampire. And that wolf behind you? That's Jared," he said.

I turned and looked at the wolf that was still lying down behind me. "Jared?" the wolf lifted his head and nodded. His dark brown eyes met mine, and I knew; it was my brother. "You-you're a wolf?" he nodded again. Whirling around, I met Jacob's chocolate-brown gaze. "You're telling the truth," he only nodded.

His face was the last thing I saw before it all went black.

Jacob's Point of View

"You're telling the truth," she stated. I nodded. She fainted.

"Ani!" I exclaimed, catching her as she fell. Jared jumped up, his eyes wide. "Go phase; I'm taking her to my car so we can get her to the hospital," I said. Jared nodded and I took off at a run, careful not to jostle Anakin too much. Jared had finally started talking to me again, mainly because he imprinted on a girl who had had a crush on him for a while, and he know knew how I felt. "You're gonna be okay, Ani, I promise," I whispered to her.

By the time I got to my car, a Rabbit I built from scratch, Jared had joined me. He helped me get his sister into the back before jumping into the passenger side himself. I got into the driver side and took off.

Once we got to the hospital, Jared went ahead, probably to ask for Dr. Fang, er, Cullen. I gently got Anakin out of the back of my car and carried her inside, seeing Jared at the counter. He came back with a clip-board.

"Name, Anakin Cooper, age, 15, gender, female," Jared mumbled to himself as he filled out the chart. "Last period? Skip!" Jared said quickly, making me snicker at him. He glared at me, "Oh please, you don't know, either, and personally, I don't want to. Injury? Dislocated shoulder, how it happened, fell, doctor, Dr. Cullen," after that, I tuned him out. Once he finished, he brought it back up to the receptionist and sat back down next to me.

"So, why do you think she fainted?" I asked after a few minutes of silence between us.

Jared shrugged, "Probably surprise; she's heard these legends her entire life, and now she's suddenly finding out that they're true? Not to mention that both her brother and her best friend are a part of it; I'm surprised none of us fainted when we first, uh, you know," he explained. "Besides, I've known her long enough to know that this isn't the first time this has happened; remember the surprise party for her thirteenth birthday? She was so surprised she fainted,"

I laughed; yeah, I remembered that party. I was the one who was close enough to catch her. "Good point," I said.

Before either of us could say anything else, a sickly sweet scent hit my nose. I growled under my breath, but forced myself to remain calm as Dr. Fang-Cullen, walked over to Jared and me.

"Jared did Anakin faint again?" he asked light-heartedly.

Jared shook his head. "Kind of, but she had a little run-in with a uh," he looked to me for help.

"Perhaps we should go somewhere privet," Dr. Cullen suggested.

We agreed, and I picked up Anakin again. He lead us a room and gestured to the bed. I laid Anakin on it, careful of her shoulder.

"So, what happened?" he asked again.

"She was by the cliffs when the vampire I had been tracking found her. He almost bit her, but we got there in time. When the vamp saw us, he threw her down- we think her shoulder is dislocated- and ran. The others went after it and killed it, while Jared and I stayed with her. I phased back and told her." I explained.

"And then she fainted," Jared added.

Dr. Cullen nodded and went to check her out. "Yeah, I can tell; I just have to pop her shoulder back in place; better to do it while she's out then when she wakes up," he said. Propping Anakin's body up slightly, Dr. Cullen gripped her shoulder and upper-arm, jerking her arm forward. I heard a sickening 'pop!' and he held her arm up. "Can one of you boys hold her arm while I get a sling?" he asked, looking at me.

I took her arm gently in my own, breathing in her scent. It was the only thing keeping me from going crazy with the sickly-sweet scent of vampire everywhere else. I still wasn't sure how she managed to mix chocolate and vanilla so perfectly, but she did. Dr. Cullen soon came back, a sling in his hand. Once he got it on her, he reached for something in his coat pocket.

"What's that?" I asked warily as he opened the small bottle in his hand. A really strong smell hit Jared and me, making us both wince and cover our noses.

"Smelling salts; it'll wake her up," Dr. Cullen said, holding the bottle under her nose.

It took a few seconds, but Ana did start to stir, shifting slightly until her eyes opened. "Hm; where am I?" her voice was quiet, "I had the strangest dream," she mumbled, bringing her uninjured arm up to rub at her eyes. "And why does my arm hurt?"

"Anakin, you fainted," Dr. Cullen explained, "And you dislocated your shoulder."

"Ani, don't you remember? A vampire had you, nearly bit you, and when us wolves showed up, he threw you to the ground and you dislocated your shoulder," I supplied.

"And when Jacob told you what we are, you fainted," Jared added.

"So that wasn't a dream," she murmured.

Before either Jared or I could say anything, Dr. Cullen stepped forward, a needle in his hand. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Anakin, I'm going to give you a shot; it'll stop the pain in your shoulder, but the side-effects will make you sort of… loopy," he said, taking her uninjured arm.

Ana nodded and squeezed her eyes shut; she hated needles as much as I did. Dr. Cullen stuck the needle into her arm and pushed down the syringe, pushing the medicine into her system. After a few seconds, he pulled it out and placed a bandage over the spot. "Okay, you can leave now; come back in two weeks, hopefully the sling can come off, then," he said.

Anakin nodded and started to get up, but her legs wobbled. Jared and I both reached for her, but she managed to steady herself in time. Jared turned to Dr. Cullen.

"Thanks, Carlisle; what do I owe you?" he asked, shaking the vampire's hand.

"My kind did this to her, so it's on the house; you have a good day, now, and give this to her if she complains of pain," Dr. Cullen said, writing something down and giving Jared the slip of paper. A prescription was written on it. He nodded, and the two of us led Anakin out.

By the time we got her to the car, the drugs Dr. Cullen gave her started taking affect. "Hey, this is a pretty car," she giggled.

"Uh, thanks," I said warily, sharing a glance with Jared.

"Oh look, a doggy!" she squealed as I pulled out; the vet was across the street from the hospital, and a women was bringing a dog in.

"Ana, calm down," Jared said, looking over his shoulder at his little sister.

"Do you guys know Soft Kitty?" she asked randomly once I got her home. I looked at her; did she mean the song from Big Bang Theory? "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur! Happy kitty, sleepy kitty, purr, purr, purr," she sang. Jared laughed.

"Why are you laughing at me?" she pouted, looking at her brother with wide eyes.

"'Cause you're funny," Jared laughed. "I'm gonna go tell Sam she's alright; good luck, Jake!" Jared called as he jogged away from his house.

"Asshole!" I called after him, only receiving another booming laugh in response.

"Oh, you said a bad word!" Ana exclaimed, pointing at me with a horrified expression. "I'm gonna tell your daddy!" well, at least in her drunken state, she remembered that my mom died years ago.

I chuckled, "Good luck with that, sense you're going to bed," I said, grabbing her arm and steering her inside her home.

"Let me go, Wolfy!" she laughed.

"Not a chance," I picked her up bridal style and carried her up the stairs to her bedroom. "You are going to sleep," I said, placing her in her bed after pulling back the covers.

"But I'm not tired!" she protested, yawning as she did it.

I chuckled, "Yes, you are," I started pulling the covered over her, but she stopped me, "Wait, lay down with me," she asked.

I started to say no, but she gave me a look that no one, not even Sam, would be able to say no to. So, I lay down next to her, on-top of the covers, and put my arm around her shoulders. She laid her head on my chest.

"Good night, Jake," she said as her eyes closed.

"Night, Ani," I said.

Before she fully fell asleep, I heard her say one more thing. Being hyped up on drugs, I doubt she knew she said it, and would probably never know. But that didn't stop my heart from beating faster as my mind processed what she said. "I love you."

After a few minutes, I determined that she was indeed asleep. Pulling her closer, I kissed her forehead, and whispered, "I love you too," before drifting off to sleep myself.

_**Wow. Longest chapter so far. I thought I'd go ahead and let her find out, but in a way that no one would ever expect. So yeah, comment/message with any ideas, criticism, and the like! :D**_


	6. Anakin Freaks and Jared's side

_**So the last chapter didn't get as many comments as usual. =( But I do have to thank the following for actually commenting.**_

_**Guest**_

_**HunterBradley**_

_**Plague's Vengeance**_

_**Originally, I was going to wait a few days, and hope that it was just because I posted during the week, but come on! Anyways, I'm hoping to get to at least 25 comments. Only three; think you can do that? No new chapter until I get to 25 comments=)**_

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that there was a warm spot next to me. Like someone had been sleeping there, and recently left. The next thing I noticed was that I was in my bedroom; how did I get here? I also noticed that my arm hurt; a lot. It wasn't even really my arm, it was more my shoulder. It wasn't until I got up, though, that I realized I was not only wearing a sling on my arm, but I was also in the same cloths I had been wearing when I left the house yesterday.

What had happened yesterday? The last thing I remembered was being told, by Jacob, that he and my brother were both giant wolves. After that, I don't remember anything. How did I get a sling on my arm, and how did I get back in my bedroom, in my bed? Once I finally got up from bed, I carefully took a shower and changed my clothes. Yeah, not very easy with only one useable arm. I made my way downstairs after brushing my hair, forced to leave it down instead of put it in a messy bun to keep it off my neck like I would like.

Anyways, I was surprised, to say the least, when I saw both Sam and Jared in the kitchen. Jared was enough to surprise me, as I hadn't really seen or spoken to him in a while. I didn't really count the argument I'd had with him only a few days ago as it had more or less been him yelling at me. But anyway, seeing my brother was surprising, but Sam? I'd never even really met him; I knew who he was, yeah, but I had never had a conversation with him. He and Jared both watched me as I found a pack of pop tarts and used my teeth to open the package so I could put them into the toaster. Them watching me was kind of awkward, I'll admit.

It wasn't until I was sitting on a chair at the table with a plate in front of me, both of my pop tarts on it, and a glass of milk in front of me, that either moved.

"Anakin, do you remember what happened yesterday?" Sam asked.

As I had food in my mouth, I nodded. When I swallowed, I said, "I remember Jacob telling me that he and Jared were two of the giant wolves that had chased that strange man away, but nothing after that; who was that, anyway?" I asked.

Sam and Jared both shared a glance with each other and Jared sat in the chair next to me. "Ana, I know that it seems crazy, but those two wolves _were_ me and Jake; and the others were Sam, Seth, Paul, Quil, Embry, and Leah. That man was a vampire, and you _have _to stay away from those. They're really dangerous," Jared explained.

I looked at my brother, a blank look on my face. After a few seconds, I turned my gaze to Sam, and then back to Jared. Both looked completely serious, but one I hadn't spoken to in a really long time, and the other I'd never even met! Why should I believe them?

"Alright, where are Ashton Kutcher and the rest of the Punk'd crew?" I asked, my eyebrows raised and my eyes going from Jared to Sam and back again multiple times. Both just gave me blank stares. "Seriously guys, jokes over, you got me, now come on, tell me the truth,"

"Ana, I'm being serious, here. We really are wolves! You saw us yesterday, you saw Jacob go into the forest as a wolf and come back human!" Jared exclaimed before he quieted down and whispered, "Why don't you believe me?"

I snapped. "Why should I believe you? For the past five months, you've been avoiding me! At first I thought it was because I broke up with your best friend, but then the others left, and you weren't there to help me through it. When our dad died, you promised me that you'd never leave me alone like mom did; you _promised_ you would always be there for me, but when my friends all started to leave me, where were you?" I challenged, my eyes flashing in anger. "I don't know where the Hell you were, but it certainly wasn't with me! And now you're sitting here trying to tell me that all my friends are giant wolves?" I stood up, leaving my abandoned breakfast on the table, "I thought I knew you better than that, Jared; but I guess I don't really know you like I thought I did, not anymore," with that, I went back to my room, completely ignoring the pain in my shoulder. Locking the door behind me, I collapsed on my bed and did the only thing I could think to do in a time like this; I cried.

Jared's Point of View

My sister hates me. That was the only thing I could think of as I made my way to Sam's house. Sam had driven us both here, but I told him I would just walk; I had to clear my mind, get rid of this jumble of thoughts.

I remembered when Jacob told me he'd imprinted on my sister; I'd been so mad at him and afraid for Ana. I'd seen what getting too mad around someone who couldn't defend themselves from a giant wolf could do to a person; we would have never thought Sam would do what he did, he wasn't even mad at Emily, but he still phased, and he still hurt her. I didn't want that to happen to my baby sister. And I made a promise, not only to her, but to our father, that I would never leave her like that.

Call me a sissy, but I almost instinctually found my hand going up to my neck, where my father's dog-tags rested. I'd gotten his necklace, while Ana got the pair usually put into a boot; as far as I knew, she wore it as a bracelet, but she could have gotten a necklace and put them on it for all I knew. Anyways, touching the dog-tags, the last thing I had of my father, brought back a memory. It was the last time I had seen him before he left; I had been eight, Ana six. She didn't remember him that well, but I knew she remembered this.

_Flashback_

_It was a sad day for many at the Seattle airport, as so many families had to say goodbye to a loved one who was leaving for Iraq. Some would never see their family member again, but I hoped that I would get to see my dad again. I knew enough about why he was leaving to know that he wasn't leaving us; he wasn't abandoning me, my sister, or my mom. He was going to fight for the country we lived in, and he would come back. At the moment, he was hugging my mom, while I held my sister's hand so she wouldn't wonder away. After pressing his lips to my mom's, dad crouched in front of my sister and me. I let go of Ana's hand as dad gently gripped my shoulders._

"_Jared, I need you to be brave," he said, "I'll be back for Christmas, but until then, you're the man of the house. Be good for your mom, and look after your sister; if something happens to me, then you'll have to fight off all the boys going after her with a stick," he joked._

_I allowed a small smile and giggle to escape, even though the tears going down my puffy face probably didn't make it look good. "I'll look after them, dad," I sniffed._

_Dad hugged me, squeezing me tightly yet softly. "I want you to promise me you'll look after your sister; always be there for her, and never leave her alone with a boy. And, I'm sorry I won't be there for your birthday, so, when you get home, look in your bedroom," he said. _

"_I promise," I replied, tears rolling down my cheeks. My dad nodded and kissed my forehead before turning to my sister._

_Anakin was crying harder than I was, but it was quiet. Her ice-blue eyes, a feature she'd gotten from our half-Quileute dad, were red and puffy, and even more tears were trickling down her wet cheeks. Dad hugged her close to him; she was only six, but she was still smart enough to know that he might not come back._

"_Anakin, my baby girl; you're my only little girl, and you look so much like your mother," he told her as our mom came up behind me. I felt her hands on my shoulders as she watched her husband and youngest child say goodbye. "I want you to be good for your mother and brother, alright?" when she nodded, he continued, "Always remember the legends, and remember what I taught you, and don't let anyone boss you around, okay?"_

_Anakin nodded sadly. "I will," her voice was soft and almost broke at the end, "I'll miss you, daddy."_

"_I know; I'll miss you, too; you need to be a big girl, now, and be good, okay?" Dad said. Anakin nodded again and dad hugged her. My mom pushed me forward, and the two of us joined the hug. "I love you. You three are the best thing to ever happen to me, and I'll think about each and every one of you every day while I'm gone," with that, he gave us one more squeeze and let us go. _

_As he walked towards the plane with the others leaving for Iraq, he looked over his shoulder. He sent us one last smile, and a wink directed at me, before turning back around and following the others that were leaving. Mom, Ana, and I stayed there watching until we couldn't see him anymore. Even then, we stayed silent until we were home again. _

"_Kids, why don't you go do your homework?" this day was a Tuesday, so Ana and I had missed school to see our father off. The school had been very understanding to us, and to the three other kids who were seeing a parent off, and the one girl who had to see her brother off._

_o.O_

_Five Months Later_

_My best friend Paul Lahote came over, and so did Ana's friends, Jacob Black, Seth Clearwater, Embry Call, and Quil Atera. The seven of us were in the front yard playing tag, and I was it._

"_I'm gonna get you!" I yelled happily, chasing my sister around. She was the closet one to me, which was why I was chasing her and not one of the boys. _

"_You have to catch me, first!" she laughed. She had just recently turned seven; her birthday is Halloween, actually. I had been nine sense about a week after dad left for Iraq, and the present he had left me was a PlayStation 2 and some games. We only had to wait a month and a half longer for Christmas, and then we would get to see him again. Ana and I had been counting down the days._

_Jacob suddenly swooped in and grabbed Ana around her waist, lifting her up and running off. "I'll save you, Ana!" he laughed, and Ana's laughter joined his._

"_Hey, no fair!" I laughed, stopping to catch my breath before I took off after Quil. _

_Most of our parents were all on the porch, talking to each other and laughing at our antics. Quil's grandpa, Embry's mom, Ana's and my mom, Jacob's dad, Seth's parents, and Paul's dad were all just as good of friends as we were, the only ones really missing being Jacob's mom, who had died just before my dad left for Iraq, his much-older twin sisters Rachel and Rebecca, and Leah, Seth's older sister. But they were older than all of us, already in Middle School, and they didn't want to hang out with a bunch of Elementary School kids. _

_All out of breath, the seven of us met up in the middle of the yard, all panting for breath and laughing. Jacob had already let go Ana, so she was standing on her own feet. _

"_Hey, how about we have races?" Paul suggested, smiling deviously. I didn't know why; we all knew that Ana was the fastest out of all of us, although I personally though it was because she was smaller than all of us and had a more agile body. _

_Before any of us could reply, though, a man in a navy uniform walked up the driveway. He smiled at us kids as he passed us, but even I could feel the strange aura around him. He seemed like he was important, and he had a lot of pins on his uniform, like maybe he was really high up in the ranks. The seven of us all looked at each other, but it was when he approached the adults that we ran up to the porch to see what was going on. _

"_May I speak to Alexandra Cooper, please?" the man asked. _

_My mom looked up at the man in confusion, and a smile on her face. "I'm Alexandra Cooper; is something wrong?" she asked._

_The man was silent for a few seconds and it was then that I noticed he held a small bag in his hand. Without saying a word, he handed the bag to my mother, whose hand shook as she reached forward to take the bag. "I'm so sorry, ma'am," he said before he left._

_It was good that she had been sitting down, or I know she would have fainted. The other adults quickly got their children and left, probably knowing that our mom would want time alone with her children. _

"_Ana, come on; something's wrong," I said, grabbing her arm. The two of us slowly walked up to the porch, where our mother was sitting in a chair, her hand clutching the bag in her hand tightly. "Mom, is everything okay?" I asked as the two of us approached her._

"_No, sweetie; it's not okay," our mom said. She took Ana and me in her arms and pulled us both close to her. _

_We stayed like that for a while, until Ana's bedtime of 7:30 arrived. At that point, mom sent my little sister to bed. After making sure she was asleep, she closed the bedroom door and led me to the kitchen. _

"_Jared, do you remember the day your father left for Iraq?" mom asked me; tears were streaming down her cheeks, for a reason I wasn't entirely sure about. Sure, I had an idea, but I wasn't completely sure._

_Either way, I nodded, "Yeah; he's gonna be back in six weeks," I said._

_Mom's eyes watered more and fresh tears slipped down her cheeks. "Honey, your father isn't returning; he died fighting for our country," she bowed her head and allowed for it to sink in._

_It took a while for the fact that my dad was gone to sink in to my nine-year-old head, but when it did, tears made their way to my own eyes. "D-dad's gone?" I choked out, fighting to keep my tears from spilling over. _

_Mom only nodded and wrapped her arms around me again. I sunk into her warm embrace, not yet realizing that I was now the man of the house. _

_End Flashback_

I blinked and shook my head, realizing that I was at Sam's house sitting on the porch, and probably had been for a few minutes now.

"Hey Jared, you okay?" I jumped and looked over my shoulder. How had I not realized that Paul had snuck up on me?

"I'm fine, Paul," I managed to say, "How long you been there?"

"Sense you got here; so, pretty much an hour."

An HOUR? "Holy shit!" I exclaimed in surprise. "Why didn't someone come out and get me?"

"Sam said you needed time to think. I think an hour is more than enough time to think," he sat down next to me.

I know what you might be thinking; why is Paul Lahote, local bad-boy, being nice? Easy; ever sense we were little, the two of us were brothers. Not by blood; he wouldn't have dated my sister for three months if he was. Anyway, we always had each other's backs. When his dad left, I helped him deal with it, and when my dad left, he, and the other guys, helped Ana and me deal. He's the easiest guy to irritate, and therefore the most dangerous to be around when mad, but he would never hurt me, or my sister.

At first, I was silent. But before Paul could get too irritated with me, I sighed and spoke, "Ana hates me, man; Jacob told her about us yesterday, and when I tried to tell her an hour ago that it's true, she won't believe me."

"Man, you gotta give her time; Emily didn't believe it at first, Kim didn't believe it at first, it's a natural reaction," Paul said.

"She saw that vampire, she saw us as wolves; how can she not believe that?" I asked.

Paul only shook his head. "I may have dated her for three and a half months, but I still don't understand how her mind works all the time,"

I forced out a laugh, "Yeah, now Jake is the one who gets to figure that out; I swear, I will kill him if he hurts her," I threatened, even though he wasn't around to hear my threat.

Paul laughed, "Yeah right, you said the same thing when I first asked her out, and I'm still here, aren't I? Besides, he imprinted on her; you know better than I do that it's physically impossible for a wolf to hurt the one he's imprinted on,"

"What about Sam?" I asked.

"He wasn't angry at Emily, you know," Embry cut in, coming up the front driveway with Quil behind him, Claire, Quil's imprint, in Quil's arms.

"Yeah, I know; but I don't want what happened to her, to happen to my sister," I said.

"Dude, we know Jake; he won't hurt her," Quil said, switching the hip he had his imprint on. Confused? Claire is two; but, Quil will have only brotherly feelings for her until she's old enough. Luckily, Quil won't age until he stops phasing. But, anyway, back to the story. "He'd kill himself before laying a hand on Anakin."

"I know that, but she's still my sister, and he's still a guy," I pointed out.

"You let her date Paul," Embry pointed out.

"Hey! I'm right here!" Paul exclaimed. He started shaking, and I was quickly reminded that Paul was the easiest wolf to anger.

"Paul, calm down." I said before adding, "I didn't let her; she didn't tell me until after he asked her out, and even then, she threatened to make sure I could never have children if I even tried to interfere. So, I made the mandatory big-brother speech to Paul and left it alone until they broke up." I explained.

"Again, right here!" By now, Paul knew we were joking, and his shaking stopped.

"But Jake is different; he's sixteen, and having once been a sixteen-year-old guy myself, I know what all sixteen-year-old guys want," I stated.

"You let her date Paul," Embry repeated.

I only stared at him, until I finally cracked a smile. Paul, Quil, and Embry all smiled back, and they dragged me inside, where the smell of Emily's wonderful cooking hit my nose and my beautiful imprint Kim flung herself into my arms.

My imprint in my arms, and delicious food in my mouth, I let my mind momentarily travel away from my sister and onto other things. But at the back of my mind, I knew that eventually Jacob would get through to Ana and she would become a part of the pack. Oh, how I was dreading that day.

_**Wow, that was long. I decided to do so much in Jared's perspective so that you guys could see a little of his and Ana's background, and how he felt about all of this. I know that Paul is the one who is very easy to anger, but he's been friends with Jared ever sense he and Jared were in diapers, so those two are like brothers, and I myself have two older brothers; they are best friends. Yes, I am a girl, but I do observe things like that, and I do have friends, who are guys that are practically my brothers, so I thought it would be nice to see a nicer side of Paul, and a side of Jared that isn't his usual joking self. But yeah, don't forget to review!:) Oh, and next chapter of Power of Winter will be out soon.**_


	7. A Confession

_**So I asked to get up to 25 comments. I got to 29. Thank you so much! Only 1 more until 30! I know that this story isn't as popular as Power of Winter (it only has 15 chapters, and hit 90 comments the other day) but it's still amazing to know that at least SOMEONE likes my story. I always get irritated when I see someone like 'I won't update until I get 15 new comments' or something like that, and I'm over here like, 'five or six, and I'm a happy girl'. Haha. Anyway, thanks to the following for commenting:**_

_**HunterBradley**_

_**Scigeekgirl**_

_**Guest**_

_**Twilightluva101**_

_**Dream lighting**_

_** 90212**_

_**And now onto the story! Enjoy, and please comment! =D**_

Anakin's Point of View

It had been a week sense I last spoke to Jacob or my brother. By now, I had accepted what they had told me, that the group was all wolves. It had taken me a couple of days to get over the fact that I had almost been killed by a vampire, two more to get over what I had been told, and those last three to figure out what to say the next time I saw either Jared or Jacob.

My shoulder was fully healed now, the sling abandoned in a corner of my room. Dr. Cullen had given me the clear to take it off, although I had to be careful with it for a few more days. I had happily obliged. But now I had the problem of actually finding someone to celebrate the fact that I was no longer injured with. So, I had to find someone.

The entire week, none of the boys were in school. I wasn't sure where they went, but I knew that it meant I wouldn't be able to talk to them. I was pretty much hoping, at this point, that I would just arrive home and one of them would be here; it was normal growing up to come home and find one of them asleep on the couch or eating food in the kitchen; we were all so close that none of us minded. It was just really strange to not see someone in the house when I got home, something that had happened ever sense my dad died.

So, when Saturday rolled around after a week with a dislocated shoulder, I decided I would go for a walk in the woods to try and figure out what I was going to say the next time I saw any of them. I knew that this was possibly a terrible idea; people got lost in the forest all the time, and I now knew of vampires, but I also knew of the wolves. If one of the wolves found me, then I would say I was sorry and ask for forgiveness. All I had to do now was wait. But until one of the wolves found me, I could use the time to figure out what I wanted to say.

So, I used my time wisely. I was hoping for Jacob to find me; ever sense he gave me that strange look in ceramics a few weeks ago, I felt like I needed him. Going even one day without seeing him, for some reason, made me unbelievably sad. It was strange, and I just had to see him. I had to say I was sorry.

I didn't realize how far I'd come into the forest until I could no longer hear when a car passed the house (I had come into the forest right behind my house) and that worried me. What if I got lost, or a vampire found me and none of the guys found me in time? That thought scared me, but I forced myself to take a deep breath and not think about it. One of them would find me eventually; they were wolves, they were bound to have a good sense of smell. Right?

I shook my head sighed, sitting down on a tree trunk large enough to possibly hold five of me. A breeze blew through, making me shiver and wish I had brought a jacket with me. Just as I thought, it didn't take long for a giant, horse-sized wolf to appear. I recognized this one as one of the pack that chased off that vampire, but it wasn't Jacob or my brother. In fact, I wasn't sure on this one at all. Based on logic, I assumed that the largest, black, wolf, was Sam, as he was the leader. Leah, being the only girl, was probably the smaller gray wolf, and Seth, being the youngest, was probably the sandy-colored wolf who was only a little bigger than the gray one. I knew that Jared was dark brown with streaks of black and shades of light brown, and Jacob's fur was russet. There was also the skinny gray one with large black spots on his back, and the fourth largest one was silver in color. This one was chocolate brown with a lighter brown on the face.

I knew that I had yet to at least have an idea of who Quil, Embry, and Paul were as wolves, so I decided to guess.

"P-Paul? Is that you?" I asked nervously; what if it wasn't Paul? The wolf shook his head, almost in disgust. All right, not my ex. "Embry?" once again, the head was shaken no. "Quil," this time, it was more of a statement, as he was the only one left. He nodded.

"Quil, do you know where Jake is? I really need to talk to him," I asked him.

Quil nodded and turned his head slightly. He then turned back to me and trotted over, lying down at the base of the tree trunk. I sighed and ran a hand through the fur of his neck, lying down on top of the trunk. We lay there for only a minute before I spoke, "It's almost duck season," he only let out a small whine. "I was seriously afraid I'd have to skip this year, as I can't hunt alone until I'm sixteen and that's not for a few more months," I said. "Even by then, by the time I got a license to hunt by myself, duck season would have been over by then, and I would have to wait until next year, and that would have broken the tradition."

When we were all little, before my dad left for Iraq, before Billy lost the movement in his legs to the car crash that killed his wife, he, Billy, Henry Clearwater, Seth's dad, Scott Lahote, Paul's dad, and Charlie Swan, a police officer from Forks, would take the seven of us duck hunting. We all loved it, and, even though we didn't come back with anything at first, we soon learned to be quiet and hunt effectively. Every year sense my dad died, Henry, Billy, and Scott would take us hunting, and Charlie sometimes joined us. But, when Billy lost the use of his legs, he was no longer able to go out and hunt, leaving us with Henry, Scott, and Charlie. Eventually, Charlie stopped hunting with us, and Scott left, leaving not only his family behind, but also the tradition. Once Jared and Paul turned 16, they both got a license, and started to take us out, now adult-free. Quil, Jacob, and Embry all got their license once they turned 16, and with Seth turning 16 soon, we all know he's going to get his. I'm getting mine when I turn 16, but until then, I can hunt as an under-age hunter as long as someone of-age with a license is with me at all times.

But anyway, Quil only snorted and stood up; I sat up from curiosity. Without giving me a second glance, he trotted over to the tree-line and disappeared. I was about to call out to him when Jacob, wearing only a pair of cut-offs and old, torn up Nike's, appeared right were Quil had gone. He walked forward until he was only a few feet away from me, his brown eyes staring straight into mine. It almost seemed like he was staring into my soul.

It felt like an eternity had passed, but it was really only a few moments before I stood and whispered his name, "Jacob." Tears started to form at my eyes, but I tried to swallow them down. Never-the-less, a few still slipped through.

He stood still, not moving or blinking for that matter. But before his no-reaction attitude could get to me, I took a few steps forward and practically flung myself into his arms. His arms snaked around me as I sobbed into his chest, his hot skin nice against my cold skin.

"I-I'm so s-sorry!" I choked out, not looking up at him. His arms tightened, pulling me closer to his warm body. Jacob rubbed my back, warming me up, and calming down.

At the same time as he did that, he said, "No, I'm sorry; I shouldn't have just dropped that bomb on you and then expected you to be okay with it; it's my fault, not yours," he said.

I shook my head and pulled back just enough to look at him. "Jake, I shouldn't have just rejected you guys because you can all turn into giant wolves! Our legends are true, okay; but you guys aren't the bad guys, you're the ones protecting the reservation; I'm so sorry," I said, my ice-blue eyes wide and tears trailing down my face.

Jacob shook his head, but didn't say anything. Instead he brought me close to him again, tightening his grip. "God, you're freezing! Didn't Jared ever teach you to wear a jacket if it's this cold out?" he asked, not seeming to care that he was pressing cold skin against him.

"He did; I just didn't think I'd have to wait too long for one of you to find me," I muttered.

Jacob chuckled and suddenly swept his arm against my legs. I fell back, but he caught me, holding me bridal style. I narrowed my eyes slightly at him and he grinned. I smiled at the grin and cuddled into his chest, savoring the warmth he offered. Pretty quickly, I fell asleep.

O.o

When I woke up, I found myself in my bed, in my bedroom, with Jacob next to me. He was looking at me, but not with a strange, creepy look. Well, it was a little strange, but not creepy. No, it was more of a loving, concerned look. When he saw I was awake, he smiled.

"Hey," his voice was husky, tired, and caring.

"Hi," I responded, sitting up and running a hand through my long brown hair. "What are you doing here?"

Jacob smiled sheepishly. "You were sleep-talking; every time I tried to move, you protested," he said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized. Then I caught sight of the clock. "2:30 in the morning! Jake, you have to get home, get some sleep!" I exclaimed.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry, I will; but first, I need to tell you something important. I was going to say it earlier, but then you fell sleep," he explained.

I furrowed my eyebrows but nodded anyway and patted the spot next to me. Jacob came over and sat down, so close that I could feel the heat coming off of him in waves.

"Well, you know that we're all shape-shifters. But, there's more to the story than that," Jacob started. I tipped my head to the side in wonder, signaling him to go on. "We shift when we get really mad, so we can be dangerous, but all of us, except for Paul, have mostly figured out how to control it. Even so, if one of us starts to shake, then keep a safe distance. Now, you know the legends, right?" he asked.

"Of course I do, I grew up in this reservation, who in this reservation hasn't heard of the legends?" I said, raising my eyebrows.

Jacob chucked, "Good point," he then grew serious again and stared straight into my eyes, "How well do you remember the legend about the third wife?"

I furrowed my eyebrows, but responded, "The third wife was married to Taha-Aki. When a beautiful female vampire attacked him, he fought back after shifting into a really old wolf. When he started to loose, the third wife realized what she had to do and stabbed herself to distract the vampire. While the vampire was distracted by her blood, Taha-Aki killed her and burned the pieces. They say that the third wife was actually Taha-Aki's soul mate," when I finished, I tipped my head to the side, looking at Jacob in confusion. "Why did I have to know that legend in particular?" I asked.

"You had to know because we have this thing called imprinting; it's when a wolf finds his soul-mate, the one most likely to give him strong pups, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the person imprinted on is the person that the wolf will marry. All it really does is point him in her direction. He can try to ignore it, but it nearly impossible. And with all of that, the imprinter is whatever the imprintee wants him to be, whether it is a lover, brother, friend, whatever she wants." Jacob explained, almost in one large breath.

I allowed my eyebrows, which had risen in interest when Jacob started his explanation, to furrow again. "Jacob, I… I don't understand," I said, confused. "Why are you telling me this?"

Jacob was silent for a few seconds and took a deep breath. He took one of my hands in his burning one, holding it softly. "I told you this because I imprinted on you, Ani, and I love you," and then he kissed me.


	8. Mixed Feelings

_**Hi. Sorry this took so long to get out; I was working on my other story, school, and work. Guess who can't write a critical analysis? This girl! So, with that in mind, I have dropped my AP Language and Analysis class, and starting next semester, I'll be in regular English 3. At least then, I'll be in regular junior classes all day instead of starting my day off with a college-level. So, I, as always, need to thank the following for commenting:**_

_**dream lighting**_

_**guest**_

_**deadly witch**_

_**HunterBradley**_

_**miramisa90212**_

_**Thank you! Also, my Power Ranger story reached over 100 comments… 132 to be exact. I know that some of you guys read that one, too… So, thank you! Okay, on with the story!**_

_Last time on Challenge Accepted!_

_I furrowed my eyebrows, but responded, "The third wife was married to Taha-Aki. When a beautiful female vampire attacked him, he fought back after shifting into a really old wolf. When he started to loose, the third wife realized what she had to do and stabbed herself to distract the vampire. While the vampire was distracted by her blood, Taha-Aki killed her and burned the pieces. They say that the third wife was actually Taha-Aki's soul mate," when I finished, I tipped my head to the side, looking at Jacob in confusion. "Why did I have to know that legend in particular?" I asked._

_"You had to know because we have this thing called imprinting; it's when a wolf finds his soul-mate, the one most likely to give him strong pups, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the person imprinted on is the person that the wolf will marry. All it really does is point him in her direction. He can try to ignore it, but it nearly impossible. And with all of that, the imprinter is whatever the imprintee wants him to be, whether it is a lover, brother, friend, whatever she wants." Jacob explained, almost in one large breath._

_I allowed my eyebrows, which had risen in interest when Jacob started his explanation, to furrow again. "Jacob, I… I don't understand," I said, confused. "Why are you telling me this?"_

_Jacob was silent for a few seconds and took a deep breath. He took one of my hands in his burning one, holding it softly. "I told you this because I imprinted on you, Ani, and I love you," and then he kissed me._

My eyes widened when Jacob's lips touched mine, mainly out of surprise. Jacob loved me? Sense when? Gradually, my eyes closed and I responded to the kiss. He was gentle with me, something I found strange; I'd seen this boy make-out with girls like he was trying to eat their faces, not a very pretty sight that I kept on accidently seeing, so this gentleness surprised me. When he finally pulled away from me, I let my eyes flutter open. Jacob was staring at me, eyes full of love, and my hand still in his.

We just stared at each other, his eyes shining, mine full of surprise. But at the same time, I felt uncertainty rush through me; I'd heard the legends, I knew the boys were wolves, but I was still uncertain about the whole situation.

My voice trembled when I finally started to speak, "You don't love me," it came out as a whisper, but I knew he heard it.

"What?" Jacob's voice was surprised, hurt, and quiet.

"Jake, you said it yourself; the imprint only points you in my direction, says that I'd give you the strongest pups, but the imprint doesn't make you love me. It might make you think it, but it doesn't make you feel it," I explained.

"Ani, I don't need the imprint to know that I love you!" Jacob insisted. "What I feel for you is real; I don't care if you don't love me back!" he exclaimed. "Why won't you believe me?"

I sighed sadly. What Jacob felt for me might have been real, but I didn't know how I felt about him. Not yet.

"Jake, I… I need to think about this," I eventually said, my voice straining. I didn't dare look up at him, afraid to see something in his eyes that would change my mind. It was better if I thought about it, first, better for the both of us. "I'm sorry, Jake, but, please, let me think about this."

I can only assume that Jacob nodded. The next thing I felt was his warm lips touching my cheek, lingering for a few seconds too long, and then the weight I'd felt when Jacob sat next to me left. I heard him open my window, and a cold breeze hit me, making me shiver. He was out of my room and the window shut before I could even blink.

It took a few minutes after Jacob had left before what had happened hit me. Jacob had said he loved me. He had kissed me. Did he really love me? It seemed like he did, he looked at me like he did, kissed me like he did. But what did it mean?

My head started to hurt from everything rushing through my mind. Jacob imprinted on me, loved me, and kissed me. But what did I feel for him? I didn't know. I knew I had feelings for him, more than just brother-sister feelings. Did I love him? I wasn't sure. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't, but I didn't know, not yet.

I sighed and ran a hand over my face. I didn't go to sleep that night, my thoughts only on Jacob. The next morning, I was suddenly glad that it was Sunday, so I didn't have to get up for school. Hopefully Jared was with the others, so he wouldn't think to come check on me. Ever sense I found out the secret, he'd spent more time with me, mainly taking me to school and back. He'd also pretty much moved the table that everyone sat at to the one I sat at. He sat next to me one day at lunch, and the other guys followed suit.

Anyway, I hoped that no one would come to check on me, especially when it got past ten in the morning. I was always up before nine, so I knew that if anyone was in the house, then they would come to see if I was okay pretty soon.

Sure enough, the door to my room eventually opened. The sight that the person met was probably a surprising one; I was still in bed, my hair was a mess, purple bags were under my eyes, and I was pretending to be asleep.

"Hey Ana, are you okay?" Ah, it was Embry. I only grunted and buried my face in my pillow. "Ana?" once again, I only groaned. "Um, Jake told us what happened last night. Well, we all saw it in his thoughts, but anyway, we're all worried about you, and Sam sent me to make sure you were okay," Embry explained, sitting on the end of my bed.

I sighed and turned over, "Is Jacob okay?" I asked.

Embry looked at me weirdly. "Jake's fine, but everyone is worried about you, especially Jake. Jared, too," he said.

"Well, tell them I'm fine, and I don't need their pity," I grumbled, rolling back over onto my stomach.

"It's not pity, Anakin, it's worry; there's a difference," Embry said, "Now get up out of bed, you're coming to Sam and Emily's with me," he said firmly.

I snorted. Yeah, right. Seeing that I wasn't going to cooperate, Embry sighed and stood up.

"You're gonna make me do this the hard way, I see," he noted, before picking me up and slinging me over his shoulder.

"AH! EMBRY YOU PUT ME DOWN!" I yelled, punching his back. Embry simply ignored me and brought me to the bathroom, setting me down inside and closing the door.

"I'm not letting you out of there until you get showered!" Embry said through the door.

"I don't have any clothes to wear!" I shouted back.

"Then I'll get you some! Hang on!" I heard Embry going through my clothes, and the door soon opened, and clothes tossed in. "There! Now get in the shower!"

I sighed, not even trying to escape, as I knew that if I tried, Embry could easily catch me and get me back in the bathroom. So, with nothing else to do, I stripped, and got into the shower. I made it as long as I could, until Embry started pounding on the bathroom door, yelling for me to hurry up.

"I'll be out when I'm out!" I shouted back, picking through the clothes Embry had chosen for me. It involved a pair of yoga pants, and a t-shirt with the phrase 'Bazinga!' on it. "Sweetie, I don't know who taught you to pick out clothes, but you don't do it very well," I said, finally exiting the bathroom with most of the clothes Embry chose for me on. Only one thing wasn't worn, and that was underwear, because let's face it, you can't wear underwear with yoga pants.

"I made the best with what I found," Embry shrugged, not noticing when I put the underwear away. "So let's go, the other's want to see you."

Still really not wanting to do this, I crossed my arms and sat on my bed. "No, you can't make me!" I know, childish, but I just wanted to go to sleep!

"Ana, how old are you? Six?" Embry asked, raising an eyebrow. I stuck my tongue out at him. Embry sighed and, once again, lifted me up off my bed and over his shoulder. I struggled as he went down the steps of my home, finally stopping when he walked outside.

"Why do I let you guys do this to me?" I asked once Embry got on the street, me still over his shoulder.

"Because you love us, and you know that there's nothing you can do about it," Embry answered. I only sighed.

Pretty soon, we got to Sam and Emily's house, Embry still carrying me, and, not even knocking or putting me down, Embry walked right in.

"Um, Embry, you can put me down, now," I said, fully aware that Paul, Quil, Jared, Seth, Jacob, and Sam were all watching Embry carry me in over his shoulder.

"Okay!" before I knew what was going on, I was no longer over Embry's shoulder, but instead on the couch, upside down, with my legs hanging off the back of the couch.

"Ow," I moaned, ignoring the laughter of the guys as I righted myself. "Yeah, laugh it up, guys, I am clearly here for your amusement," I said, holding my shoulder and rotating it slowly. It still hurt slightly, obviously.

"Oh come on, Ana, you gotta admit, that was funny," Quil laughed. I only rolled my eyes.

_**I know, short, but I'm running out of ideas! Help a girl out? Also, don't forget to read Power of Winter, which is two chapters away from completion, and Fearing Houndoom, which has only one chapter at this point. Thank you! =D**_


	9. Coming to a Decision

_**Only one more comment until I have 40. Oh my goodness. Am I the only one who thinks Taylor Lautner looks really hot when he wears plaid? I'm probably going to have Jacob wear plaid a lot, because I can do what I want. I think the dude who plays Seth is adorable, too; I may or may not write a story about Seth, just so you know. And this story won't be much longer, a few more chapters, five more at the most. So you guys, my Power of Winter story is over. And it reached my goal of 150 comments. That is awesome. Don't forget to read its sequel, Return of Winter! And now for the next chapter of Challenge Accepted! But first, I must thank the following for commenting on the last chapter:**_

_**Guest**_

_**Jessica T. 8199**_

_**miramisa90212**_

_**geekchic8428**_

_**brankel1**_

_**And on to the Story! =D**_

After spending about an hour at Sam and Emily's house, I had to admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The guys all acted like nothing had happened, and Jared couldn't stop boasting about how I had come out of a vampire attack with nothing but a dislocated shoulder. They all made fun of me mercilessly about being the newest 'wolf girl' but I didn't care; I was just glad to have my friends back.

Sam and Emily were both really nice. It was hard to believe that Sam had attacked Emily once, leaving half of her face in a permanent scowl, but even with those scars, she was still beautiful. One of the most beautiful I've ever met, actually. And her cooking was delicious. I don't even like sweet potatoes, but Emily made one, and oh my goodness, it was the best potato I had ever had in my life. It was that good.

So, while my brother boasted, Seth, Embry, Paul, and Quil teased, Leah said nothing, and Sam and Emily welcomed me to their family like I had never outright told Sam that I didn't believe he and the others were wolves, Jacob just stared. Yep, you heard me right. He just looked at me. It was kind of weird, but at the same time, I understood it. He had imprinted on me, and then I pretty much rejected him. My best friend ever sense I had been born, I rejected. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if he was cussing me out in his mind right then. Hell, I deserved to be cussed out. But he didn't cuss me out, he didn't say _anything._ He just looked at me, like I was an angel here to save him, without a glare or look of resentment anywhere on his features. Eventually, seeing Jacob just looking at me made me too nervous to even be in the same room as him.

I stood, "Um, I'll be right back," I said quietly, knowing that every single guy in that room heard me say it.

"Are you okay?" Jared asked, always the over-protective older brother.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied, "I just need some fresh air, is all."

I could tell Jared didn't believe me, but he seemed to notice that I was uncomfortable and nodded, allowing me to leave. "Don't go into the forest," he called after me. I pretended not to hear and opened the door to the back porch. The fresh air that hit me in the face made me shiver instantly, but I didn't care. I closed the door and sat on the steps to the porch, wrapping my arms around my legs and leaning forward so that my chin rested right between my knees.

I felt so bad about what I had done to Jacob; he imprinted on me and I had rejected him. Why did he still look at me like he would die without me? The way I saw it at this point, his life would have been better if he had never imprinted on me in the first place. Plus, there was the fact that he was a full year older than I was. Sure, at La Push High, there wasn't really a whole lot of us, but there was still enough of us for people to mainly keep in their own grade level for dating. Sure, I had dated Paul, but it had taken him a good few weeks to finally get me to say yes. And he was a junior at the time, while I had been a freshman. No one said anything, though, because they knew that Paul would date any girl at any time, and we'd known each other for so long I think everyone was wondering when Paul would finally ask me out. Although none of us expected us to date as long as we had.

I had only been out there for maybe, ten minutes or so, when I heard the door behind me open. Without even looking, I said, "Leave me alone, Jared, I'll go back in, in a few minutes."

There was a silence, but then the door opened more and I heard footsteps approach me.

I turned around, "I said-!" I started, but I got cut off when I realized who it was. Seth. I sighed and turned back towards the back yard as Seth sat down next to me. It was silent for a few moments, an awkward silence, until I finally broke it. "What do you want?" I know, mean, but what was I supposed to say?

"Well, I wanted to talk to you, but you don't sound very happy, so I can go, if you want," he said.

He started to get back up and I sighed, "No, come back, I'm sorry; I have no right to be mad at you." I said sorrowfully.

Seth sat back down and peered at me curiously; I didn't know why, we'd been best friends for pretty much our entire lives, and we had some classes together, so he'd seen me a lot. Maybe it was just because we hadn't spent any time together sense he phased. None, really, with just the two of us.

"You seem different somehow, Ana; I don't know how, but you just seem like something about you is different," Seth said, rubbing his chin with his hand.

I shrugged, "I'm the same as before, Seth. Maybe it's because you shot up about a foot and can now change into a huge ass wolf at will," I said sarcastically.

Seth chuckled. "You don't even know which wolf I am, do you?" he asked.

"I have an idea," I answered. "I've seen Jacob, so I know he's the russet wolf, and I've seen Jared, so I know he's brown with streaks of light brown and black in his fur. Quil is chocolate with lighter brown on his face," I said. Now to the logic part. "Based off of logic, I'm gonna say that the big black wolf is the leader, which is Sam. Leah, being the only girl, is probably the smallest gray wolf, and you're the slightly larger sandy colored wolf. Am I right?"

Seth nodded, amazed. But then he smirked, "There's still two more wolves, you know."

I nodded, "I've never seen Embry or Paul as wolves, but I'm guessing that Paul is the silver wolf and Embry is the gray one with black spots on his back."

"Wow; you are good," Seth stated.

"Honey, of course I am; I'm Anakin Cooper, am I not?"

"That you are," he agreed, chuckling. I let a laugh escape as well, relishing in the moment. All too soon, though, the moment ended and I wrapped my arms back around my legs with a sigh. "What's wrong?"

A breeze blew through then, making me shiver slightly. Why oh why hadn't I grabbed a jacket on my out of the house? Oh yeah; because Embry just had to carry me over here. Stupid werewolf boy. "I don't know," I admitted eventually. "Jake's been my best friend ever sense I was born, and when he admitted his feelings to me, even though I think I might like him back, I still rejected him," I continued. Seth stayed silent, only looking at me with large, concerned eyes. "He imprinted on me, and I still rejected him. I'm a terrible person!" I finished, before burying my face in my arms.

Another breeze blew through, making me shiver again, and Seth wrapped an arm around my body. He pulled me into is un-naturally warm body, warming me up almost instantly. "No, you're not a bad person!" he exclaimed, "No one ever said that you would end up with him!"

I sniffed, "But isn't that what an imprint does? Marries the guy so she can give him strong children that will be strong wolves?" I asked.

Seth thought about it for a minute and I looked up at him. Eventually, he nodded, "Yeah, but the only thing it really does is point us in the right direction. Hell, look at Quil; his imprint is only three years old. He'll have to wait fifteen more years before he can go out with her legally, and even then, she might only see him as an older brother and get married to someone else."

I nodded, sort of understanding, but at the same time, I was still confused. I sighed again, "I'm gonna head home, Seth; I can't stand being in the same room as him right now." He nodded in understanding, a sympathetic look on his face. "Tell Sam and Emily that I had a great time, and I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

Seth smiled slightly and wrapped his arms around me in a comforting hug. "Be careful, Ana; we don't want you to nearly get bitten again, alright?" he joked.

I laughed lightly, and nodded, "I'll text you when I get home. Thanks for listening, Seth; you're an awesome friend, and hopefully, whoever you imprint on won't be like me," with that, I got up from off the porch and walked away, towards my house. I could feel Seth's eyes on me until I was out of sight, even with his enhanced wolf eyes, and made it home safely. Just as promised, I sent a text to Seth to tell him I made it home okay. The rest of that Sunday I spent alone in my bedroom, too sad to do anything else.

That night, I made my way to the over-hang. You know in Free Willy how Jesse has that bit of roof right under his window so he could sit on it if he wanted? I have one of those, and I went out to sit on it a lot. This was one of those nights. I would go out there and think, sketch, write, a lot of stuff. Yes, I said write; my main passion is drawing and making clay figures, but I could write stories. My English teacher had read one of my stories and was currently trying to convince me to submit it to our school magazine, which would officially make me a published author if it was published, but I wasn't sure.

Anyway, I slid open my window, flinching slightly at the squeaking noise it made. I would have to grease it, soon. Once it was open, I ducked under the pane and settled myself on the roof shingles, gazing up at the stars and moon. It was one of those beautiful sights that I could try to capture in one of my sketches, but knew it would never be as beautiful as the real thing. Either way, I was too sad to go back in and get my sketch book. So I just stayed there, my legs crossed Indian style with my hands out behind me, bracing my body. This time, I was smart enough to wear a jacket over my shirt, although I was stupid enough to go out barefoot.

Shaking the thought of my cold feet from my mind, I thought about what Seth had told me. He said that while imprinting was a way to ensure the wolf's babies became strong wolves if they ever phased, something that would ensure the tribe's safety. But he also said that the wolf and the girl he imprinted on didn't always end up together. Seeing Sam and Emily together, and Kim and Jared around school (it was pretty easy to tell now that I thought about it) I could tell that staying away from your imprint had to be hard. When I was at their house, Sam stayed glued to Emily's side, and kissed her when he thought no one was looking. At school, Jared and Kim were the same. They kept giving each other adoring looks, and I could just tell that they were in love.

The look Jacob gave me a lot now was similar to the look Sam and Jared gave to Emily and Kim. But did he really love me, or did he only think he did because of the imprint? I sighed; why did life suddenly have to become so damn hard?

A sudden rattle of a bush made me look down (I had been looking up at the sky). I only had to watch for a few moments until Jacob appeared in all his half-naked glory. Why oh why did he have to look so hot? Before, he had been kind of gangly with long, dark hair. Yeah, he'd been muscular, but not as much as now. Now, he was taller, much more muscular, a six-pack that made every girl in school want him, and his hair was shorter, making him look even hotter. Even in the darkness, I could still tell it was him.

I looked away, back to the sky, hoping that if I ignored him he'd leave. However, I've quickly started to realize that what I want didn't matter, as Jacob jumped up to the roof I was on, not even bothering to use the tree that was right next to it. When we were little, he would always use that tree to climb up here and sneak into my room, or I would use it to sneak out. No one ever knew, and I managed to sneak away enough times successfully that I could legally be considered a ninja. Haha. Anyways, Jacob settled next to me, and I could practically feel his eyes burning holes into me.

I ignored him as best I could, honestly hoping that he would just eventually leave. No such luck, because he eventually spoke.

"I'm sorry." It was a simple statement, but it left me confused. I looked at him, sure that my face was asking the question that refused to escape from my lips. For what?

Jacob met my gaze, eyes full of love, gazing right into me. "I'm sorry for dropping everything on you at once; imprinting, and for kissing you. It was wrong for me to assume that you would be okay with all of that," he confessed.

I shook my head. "It's alright, Jake," I said, looking away from him and back up to the sky. "Seth explained to me that imprints don't have to end up with the wolf that imprinted on them," I looked back at Jacob, only to see him looking at me with understanding, but sadness, in his eyes. "I thought about it for a while, and I decided that…" I broke myself off momentarily, thinking of what to say. Jacob gave me an encouraging look, urging me to continue my sentence. I took a deep breath and said, "I decided that I didn't want to- couldn't- put you through that kind of pain."

Jacob seemed to get what I was saying, as a smile soon appeared on his face. "Does that mean…?"

I nodded with a small, soft smile on my face. "Yeah; I'm willing to date you, but we have to take it slowly," I said, putting emphasize on 'have'. "And we can't let anyone know; I know keeping it from the pack will be hard, but please, try to restrain from thinking about it while phased," I begged. "It's just until I get used to the idea."

Jacob nodded, "I understand, you have to get used to the idea of dating a werewolf who also happens to be your best friend. But it'll be hard to keep it from the guys. When we're in wolf form, it's impossible to keep things from each other; any thought that pops into our heads, everyone else who's phased at that moment will know about it. I could accidently think about you and not even realize it," he explained.

"I know, Jake; it means a lot that you're willing to try," I said, scooting over to him. Jacob scooted over as well, wrapping an arm tightly around me and practically pulling me into his lap. "Around everyone, we can't act like we're dating. No holding hands in public, no hugging, and no kissing."

Jacob pouted playfully, "Awe, I can't kiss you?" he asked.

I giggled, "You can kiss me, just not in public. If anyone finds out we're dating, then everyone will wonder how it happened, why you avoided me so long and then suddenly decided to date me, all that stuff. I'd much rather no one knew; at least, not yet," I explained.

Jacob didn't respond. I looked up at him, tipping my head back, only to see him looking down at me thoughtfully. Before I could ask what he was doing, he had pushed his lips to mine softly. I kissed him back instantly, knowing that this was way too much like the Spider-Man kiss. Either way, I allowed myself to get lost in Jacob's lips. They were soft, and he tasted wonderful. He kissed me gently, and wrapped his arms around my waist tightly. I allowed one of my hands to rest on his, while my other hand went up to cup his cheek.

Eventually, Jacob pulled away, leaving me short of breath. "I love you," he whispered as I looked back out to the yard. I didn't respond to the statement, still not sure how I felt about him. He didn't seem to expect me to say it back, and pressed a kiss to the top of my head; for now, it would all be okay.

_**I know, it's short, but like I said, I'm running out of ideas! Please, I'm begging you guys, please send in ideas! Message me, put them in the comments, just do something! I would be forever grateful if you did! **_


	10. Kim's Promise

_**Thanks to the following for commenting:**_

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_**Jessica T. 8199**_

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_**And on to the story! =D**_

Monday. A day everyone on earth hates. I am no exception to this rule of thumb, and literally rolled out of bed that morning. With a low thump, my body hit the carpet next to my bed and I cursed. Quite loudly, I might add.

"Ana, are you okay?" Jared asked, sticking his head through my partly-opened door and looked at me.

"I'm good," I answered, slowly standing back up while rubbing my butt.

Jared just chuckled and his head disappeared from my room, shouting a reminder that I was meeting his imprint and girlfriend, Kim, today. I looked at my clock, quickly realizing that I had school. I sighed and grabbed some clothes, not even caring, and took a quick shower. The clothes I had decided on was my favorite pair of yoga pants with under armor under them and my favorite hoodie, the Hawaii one Jacob gave me, with a tank-top under it. I was planning on going to Bread Co. while I walked to school, as I loved the chocolate chip bagels there and it was on the way. So, with that wonderful thought in my head, I grabbed my school bag, wallet, phone, and iPod and made my way downstairs.

"Jared, I'm going to school!" I shouted, not realizing that he was in the kitchen as I passed.

"Why are you heading so early?" I jumped when I heard Jared's question. I thought he had gone back to bed! I'd heard him come home late last night, and before he could come check on me, Jacob, who had stayed with me last night after a few good minutes of begging, snuck out through the window.

"Jared! You scared me!" I exclaimed, pressing my hand to my speeding heart, one because he had scared me, and two, to just plain be dramatic.

"Well? Are you going to answer the question?" he prompted, sitting at the table chewing on an apple with his arm resting on the table. His eyebrows were raised up, almost under his hair.

"Um, well, uh," I stuttered, before an idea finally came to me, "I'm going over to Seth's so he can tutor me in English!" Okay, so not my best idea; I was the one who tutored Seth in English, he tutored me in math. But give me a break, I was hungry and wanted to get out of there.

Jared's eyebrows staid raised, and he even gave me a 'really?' look. I just ignored it and dashed out the door before he could say anything. Before I closed the front door, I heard him laugh, and shook my head. Well, that was close.

With a deep breath, I put my ear buds in, and the hood of my hoodie up and started walking towards school, and the local Bread Company. I could almost taste the chocolate chip bagel I was about to eat. When I eventually got there, I was waiting in line when my phone rang. I pulled it out and smiled when I saw the picture on the screen.

The picture was one of Jacob I had taken right before he phased, smiling happily with his brown eyes shining in delight. I'd have to take a new picture, now. Below the picture, was this:

**Jakeeeyyyyy! =D**

I pressed the answer button on my phone and raised it to my ear, smiling. "Hey, Jake!" I said.

"_Morning, Babe," _I giggled, _"Want me to pick you up?"_

"I'm actually at Bread Company getting breakfast; could you get me from there?" I asked. There was only one more person in front of me.

"_Yeah, sure. I'll be there in two minutes. Could you get me a bagel?" _he asked.

"Yeah, sure; chocolate chip?" he agreed and I hung up, just in time, too. My turn came up and I quickly ordered two chocolate chip bagels and a hot chocolate to go and waited the short few seconds until the bag with the bagels and my hot chocolate were given to me before taking the stuff, paying, and leaving. Jacob's car was just pulling up when I took out one of the bagels and bit into it happily.

Jacob opened the passenger door of his Rabbit, a car he himself built from scratch, and I climbed in next to him.

"Hello, Ani," he greeted, waiting for me to shut the door before pulling me into a kiss.

I laughed and pulled away, "Jake, what did I tell you about kissing in public?"

"We're not in public!" Jacob protested, "I put in tinted windows for a reason, ya know!"

I raised my eyebrows as he began to drive, taking a sip from my hot chocolate (and burning my tongue I might add) before glancing at the windows. I sighed, "Alright, but not while you're driving."

Jacob smiled in victory. I rolled my eyes and continued to eat my bagel. I hadn't even finished it by the time we got to school. When we did, Jacob waited patiently for me to swallow before pulling me in for another kiss. This one lasted a little longer than the first, and when he did pull away, we were both breathing hard.

"Remember, Jake, no one can know about this," I reminded him, handing him his bagel.

"You worry too much," he smiled, pressing one more kiss to my lips before shoving his bagel into his mouth and leaving the car. I waited a minute, to make it look less suspicious, and then left the car myself. All the guys had met at Jared's car, and I quickly made it look like I had just gotten there.

"Hey, guys!" I exclaimed, coming to a stop next to Seth. "Sorry I'm late," I know, it's like nothing had happened, but they had pretty much told me to meet up with them that morning.

"Took you long enough!" Embry exclaimed, stealing a part of my bagel and stuffing it into his mouth.

"There was a wait at Bread Co.," I answered innocently. "And stop stealing my food, pig!"

"May I please have some?" Seth asked, although I could hear the teasing tone in his voice.

I rolled my eyes as he threw his arm around me in a playful gesture. "Sure, Seth," I ripped off a small piece and gave it to him. He proceeded to throw it into the air and catch it in his mouth, grinning in success as he chewed. I laughed.

"We should probably get inside before the bell rings," Quil said then, checking his watch. We all groaned; stupid school and stupid Monday! Either way, we did as he said, and soon the day started.

Being a Monday, the school day went longer than should be legally possible, and it was seven, long hours later that I was finally at my locker, shoving a textbook into my book-bag for homework. Jacob came up to me as I was zipping it shut and leaned against a near-by locker.

"So, how was your day, sophomore?" Jacob had always loved to tease me about being a grade above me, and even when we were secretly dating was apparently no reason to stop.

"Eh, it was a Monday; all Monday's are awful simply because they are a Monday," I stated, making a noise of triumph when I finally got my bag to zip up all the way. I slung it over my shoulder, hugging another textbook that didn't fit into my bag to my chest, "What about you?"

Jacob glanced around, like to make sure no one was around to hear, before he said, "My day was a bore until lunch. Although not being able to sit by you kind of sucked," he said as I shut my locker.

I sighed, "Jake, you agreed that no one would know until I got comfortable with it; it's just a little longer, I promise," I soothed, placing a hand on his arm.

"I know, Ani, don't worry," Jacob sent me a heart-melting, knee-buckling smile. I could only smile and nod back to him.

Before long, the two of us were joining the others by the cars. I had been told by Jared at lunch that after school, all of them were going to Sam's, and I was invited. I, of course, agreed. So, we were trying to decide who was going in whose cars.

"Okay, so I'm taking Ana, Kim, and Seth," Jared began, leaning against the side of his truck with his arm wrapped around Kim's waist. I had met her at lunch, and she was really nice; perfect for my brother. "Jake, you can take Quil, Embry, and Paul. Leah should already be there," he finished, looking at everyone with cool, composed eyes.

Everyone nodded, although Jacob didn't look too happy about me riding with my brother rather than him. Even so, he agreed, and with Quil, Embry, and Paul in tow, unlocked his car to get in. As I was hopping into the bed of Jared's truck, a howl sounded, loud enough for even me to hear. But what was strange was the two other howls that followed it, the two new ones sounding more like in pain than warning, vampire alerts.

The boys all looked at each other and nodded. They turned to Kim and me. "Kim, take Ana to Sam's house; we'll meet you girls there," Jared ordered.

Kim and I glanced at each other, but before I could ask what was going on, Kim stepped forward, "I'll make sure we both get there, Jared," she said, grabbing his arm.

Jared nodded and kissed Kim on the lips quickly, "Be careful, you two," he nodded over to me.

"We'll be careful, Jared," I reassured, "I'm more worried about you guys."

"We'll be okay," Seth said, slinging a friendly arm over my shoulder.

"You'd better, or I'll hunt you down and kill you all," I threatened, pointing a finger to each of them.

"We'd better go," Paul stated, obviously itching to get out into the forest. I rolled my eyes and took Jared's keys from his hand, ignoring his protests to let Kim drive. Realizing I wasn't going to give them up, he sighed and pressed another quick kiss to Kim and a side-hug to me before leaving.

"Careful, guys!" I called as they ran off towards the forest. Jacob looked over his shoulder at me briefly, and I blew him a kiss before he turned back around. Once they all were gone, I sighed and turned to Kim, a frown on my face. "Think they'll be okay?"

"They always come back okay, Anakin," Kim said comfortingly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "We just have to believe in them; besides, by the sound of those howls, I would say that there was a new wolf. But that sounded like two howls, not one," she said.

"I guess we should get back to Sam's," I said after a few seconds of awkward silence. Kim silently agreed and took Jared's keys. "Hey!" I protested.

She only smirked and got into the driver's side of the truck. "Are you coming or not?" she asked once she started the engine of the truck. I sighed and jumped in, knowing that Jacob would have to run up to school to get his stuff. The ride to Sam's place was silent and awkward, as neither of us knew much about the other, and the only common thing between us so far was my brother.

"So, um," Kim started after a few minutes awkwardly, "Jared has told me a lot about you."

I smiled slightly, "Well, I hope it's only good," I said.

She laughed and said it was. "He told me you were turning sixteen, soon; that's an exciting birthday!"

A laugh made its way to my mouth and out, "Yeah, I'm excited. Once I can drive, I can get to places so much easier, and it'll make it easier to get out of here once college comes around," I answered.

Kim frowned at me, "You want to leave?" she asked.

I shrugged, "I would settle for Port Angeles Community College, but I just don't think that PACC could offer me everything I need to be successful," I explained, "Plus, Berkeley in California has a great English program."

"Oh, so you want to go into English?" Kim asked as she pulled into Sam's driveway.

"Kind of," I started as we got out, "I want to be an author, but Berkeley is a really privet, prestige college, same as Stanford and Yale. The best I could probably get into would probably be the University of Washington State," I finished.

"You can get into any college you want!" she exclaimed, "I myself am going to PACC with Jared until all this stuff is over."

I didn't respond to that, instead opting to just stay quiet. Kim, thinking that I was thinking how I would probably be rejected from the colleges of my choice, put a comforting arm around my shoulders. I decided to smile at her gratefully, and let her think what she wanted.

"Emily!" Kim called after letting me go, walking towards the kitchen. Emily, her hands covered in flower, poked her head out of the kitchen and smiled when she saw the two of us. We were just walking into the kitchen as she was putting her hands under the facet and washing off the flour.

"Hello, girls; have a good day at school?" she asked, gesturing with her head for the two of us to sit down. She pulled out a towel and dried off her hands.

"Yeah, it was great!" Kim exclaimed happily. I sent her a look; it was a Monday, and she had a good day at school? How was that humanely possible?

"What about you, Anakin?" Emily asked me kindly, bringing my attention back to the conversation.

"Oh, um, it was fine," I said un-easily, wringing my hands in my lap. "Got a bagel this morning, so it had a good start!"

I know, stupid to say and didn't really have a meaning to it, but Emily still nodded before turning back to whatever it was that she was making.

"That's good," she said, turning back around again. Now she had a large bowl cradled to her chest with her left arm while she stirred it with her right hand. "Apparently, there's going to be two new wolves," she explained, "Sam said he and the others would be back soon, possibly with two new guys," she finished.

Kim and I nodded, and I took out some homework, determined to get done with it all before anyone got back. I wanted to know what was going on, after all.

"So," Kim started after a while, while I was in the middle of going through my Spanish notes to figure out how to write a certain sentence.

I glanced up at her, "So, what?"

She looked at me, eyebrows raised. Kim was giving me that look, which you just knew meant, 'you-know-what-now-answer-me!' that look.

"Kim, I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, going back to my homework.

I heard Kim sigh, and I could just picture her rolling her eyes with an annoyed look on her face. "You know what, Anakin," I stopped her right there.

"Okay, let me just stop you right there for a second," I said, looking up at her, "Stop calling me Anakin; makes me sound like I'm in trouble. Please, call me Ana."

Kim paused for a moment, before continuing, "You know what, Ana. What's going on between you and Jacob?" why did she ask me this? Did she know? No, I told myself, she, and the other wolves, had no idea that I was secretly dating Jacob.

"Um, nothing…?" I asked, trying to sound confused.

Kim raised her eyebrows at me again. "Oh please. I saw that blow-kiss you sent him!" she exclaimed, "I'm not stupid, Ana, I know a relationship when I see one," she finished, crossing her arms with a look of triumph on her face.

"Okay, let's just say, hypothetically, that you're right," I said, setting down my pencil and folding my hands on the table in front of me, "You would have to promise to not tell anyone, you know, if I was actually dating Jacob."

"So, you and Jacob are dating?" Kim asked. Emily had been silent this whole time, but I knew she was listening.

I sighed, "This was a hypothetical situation, Kim, you should listen more."

"I knew it!" I jumped at the scream. Kim was now standing up, a huge grin on her face, and the pointer finger of her right hand pointing at me. "You and Jacob ARE dating!"

"SSHHH!" I hushed, "None of the guys are supposed to know! Not even Jared!"

That was where Kim faltered. "But… I tell Jared everything," she said.

I smirked, "Well, you can't tell him this, Kim; Jared is my brother, I have to tell him."

"But… But… I can't lie to Jared!" she exclaimed.

"She'll tell Jared when she's ready, Kim," Emily came to my rescue, "Besides, you won't be lying, you just won't tell him," she said, somewhat unsure of it.

I nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! It's not lying if it's never brought up!" I agreed.

"So I can't tell anyone?"

"No, no one," I nodded.

Kim sighed, but agreed. I smirked.

Throwing my arms around the older girl, I hugged her gratefully, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! I owe you!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah, you just better tell him before I accidently let it slip," she mumbled. I looked at her, surprised. She might still tell him? At my freaked out face, she laughed, "I'm joking, Ana, laugh a little."

"Oh; um, I knew that," I mumbled, my cheeks reddening in embarrassment. Both Kim and Emily laughed. Eventually, I laughed, too.

_**I know, short, but I'm still trying to find some ideas. I have an idea for a Seth/OC story, the basic plot thing, I forget what it's called, is on my profile, so if y'all could read it and tell me what you think, that would be great. Also, sorry this took so long, but I'm on a four-day weekend. Mind you, my mom just had surgery to have a cyst removed, but still. I should be able to update this story, and maybe Return of Winter, a few times in the next three days. Thanks for reading!**_


	11. Anakin's Birthday

_**Hey, you guys; I'm so, so sorry this has taken so damn long. I've been really busy, and just had no time to type up chapters. But here I am, typing this up, for you, my loyal readers. Also, this past Saturday, February 16**__**th**__**, was my 17**__**th**__** birthday! Yay! Lol. Anyway, thanks to the following for commenting and getting my story to 50 comments:**_

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_**Orange Mystic Force Ranger**_

_**VballBabe44**_

_**brankel1**_

_**Guest**_

_**Finally, before I start this chapter, I would just like to say that this story has only a few chapters left. I know, short, but I want to start a story about Andy from Power of Winter as a child in Mighty Morphin'. And now, to the story!**_

Two days. That's how long Kim lasted before she accidently blabbed to Jared about Jacob and me. I don't know how it happened, all I know is that two days after Kim found out, Jared came up to me all angry demanding to know how long Jacob and I had been dating. Needless to say, he phased and attacked Jacob (who was on patrol at the time) and now everyone knew that we had been hiding our relationship. At the same time, though, when Jared had attacked him, Jacob threw his memories of our conversation the night we became official at him and my brother backed off. Even so, I wasn't so happy at my brother for attacking my boyfriend, and didn't speak to him for three days.

Now, two weeks later, I'm talking to my brother and Kim again, and everyone at school knows that Jacob and I are dating. The two new wolves, a pair of freshmen named Collin and Brady, are still under tight surveillance, and not allowed to see any of the imprints. It's only until they control their tempers, which, hopefully, will be soon. Poor boys haven't had a decent meal in two weeks, just what Sam's brought them from Emily.

It's the middle of October, which means people are gearing up for Halloween. It also means my sixteenth birthday is coming up, a day I am completely dreading. Why? Easy; the pack wants to throw a birthday party for me, no matter how much I complain and say no. All I want to do is go hunting with Jared, Paul, Jacob, Embry, Quil, and Seth, like old times, but now that they're wolves they can't skip out on patrol. My argument is that Sam, Collin, Brady, and Leah are all wolves too, so they can do patrol that day while the guys and I go duck hunting, but Jared is intent to make me spend the day with Emily, Kim, and Leah, something I do NOT want to do.

So, here I am, sneaking over to Sam and Emily's house exactly two weeks away from my birthday. Once I reached the small house, I looked around and, seeing no one who could possibly spot me, knocked on the door. Sam answered a moment later, looking confused.

"Anakin? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be at school?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

No matter how many times I've seen and talked to Sam, he still intimidates me. I gulped and took a deep breath before replying, "I… I needed to ask you a question when the others aren't here, and this is the only time I can." I explained.

Sam leaned against the doorframe slightly, looking at me with eyebrows scrunched together and his lips in a tight line. Finally, he nodded and motioned me to come inside. "Emily's at the store and Leah is still trying to calm Collin and Brady down enough to phase back, we're alone," he said, crossing his arms as he stood in the middle of his living room. "What's wrong?"

I took another deep breath and ran my fingers through my hair slightly. "Well, my birthday is coming up." He raised his eyebrow and went to speak, but I spoke again before he could. "Jared and the others want to throw a birthday party, but I just want to go hunting with the guys like old times. I was hoping you could maybe convince them to take me hunting instead of throwing a party." I messed with a few strands of my hair as I spoke, avoiding Sam's dark eyes. "I understand that you guys have patrol and stuff, but I was really hoping you could give Jared, Jacob, Paul, Quil, Embry, and Seth that day off so we can hunt. Emily won't even have to go out and buy meat or anything, because we'll be hunting for deer and duck!" I added. "And Jared has a great recipe for it, and I can go get the bacon and stuff, you won't have to do anything but convince them to go hunting!"

I was about to continue when Sam cut me off, "Anakin, Anakin, calm down!" he chuckled, putting his large, warm hand on my shoulder. "I see your point; I'll get the guys to take you hunting. Don't worry about it; I'll take care of everything. I can't promise you won't get a party, but I can promise that you'll get to go hunting," he assured me.

I sighed in relief and threw my arms around Sam's neck. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed. "You won't regret this, I swear!"

Sam laughed, "I'm sure I won't, Anakin, now come on, we need to get you to school; you told your brother you were leaving, right?" he gave me a hard stare.

I, once again, avoided his gaze, "I, um, may have, uh, forgotten to tell them I was leaving," I mumbled.

Sam sighed, "Come on, I'm sure Jared and Jake are freaking out that you're not there, I'll take you to school."

The ride back to school as awkward, but short, and I got there right as lunch was starting. Luckily, I had only missed one class, but that was a class I had with Seth, who most likely told the others I was gone, meaning Jared and Jacob most likely were, in fact, freaking out. After grabbing my lunch from my locker, I hurried to the cafeteria and to the table the others were at. Jacob was looking at his phone, worried, and it suddenly dawned on me to check mine. Jared has his arm around Kim and looked worried, as did the other boys. I sighed and walked over to the table.

"Hey, guys," I mumbled, which of course, they all heard.

Jared, who was the closest to me, stood and pulled me into a huge hug. "Ana, where the hell were you?! We were worried!" he scolded as he let me go.

"I know I'm sorry, I had to go do something for my first hour teacher; I forgot to tell Seth I would be missing fifth hour to help her." I lied, sitting down next to Jacob.

Jared sighed, "You can't just disappear like that, Ana! At least tell one of us if you're going to miss a class for whatever reason," he said, before stuffing a sandwich into his mouth.

I sighed and looked down at my own lunch, a PB&J sandwich, a bag of goldfish crackers, a granola bar, and a water bottle. This would be a long two weeks.

O.O

Like I predicted, the next two weeks went by agonizingly slow, and, finally, the day before my birthday had arrived. I didn't know if Sam had actually managed to get the guys to take me hunting or not, but I was hoping he had. At the end of the day, the guys and I gathered around the cars like normal.

Jared fixed a stare at me, and spoke, "After talking it over with Sam, we have decided that tomorrow, we can go hunting. He, Leah, Collin, and Brady will take over the patrols until we come back, and it'll be you, me, Jacob, Paul, Embry, Quil, and Seth. We leave tomorrow at four AM, so go to sleep early," at that point, I rushed forward and jumped on my brother.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed happily.

Jared staggered but finished his explanation, "There is still going to be a party, but on the beach tomorrow night, and we will skin and grill whatever we get back from hunting. Ana, you're bringing your bow and the rest of your arrows, the rest of you, bring what you normally bring."

I smiled widely; Sam did it!

O.O

The next day, we left really early. I had my bow, a compound, dark purple, bow and the rest of my arrows, with me, and I was wearing a pair of yoga pants, my camouflaged hoody, my thermal Wader's and a camouflaged beanie. Behind me, I was dragging some duck decoys, and I had my face smeared with black and green paint. The rest of the guys had on their hoodies, Waders, and hats and each were dragging even more decoys than me behind them. Jacob had a deer decoy with him, and Jared was dragging a large, camouflaged cooler behind him with a lot of food and bottles of water in it.

Paul had a second cooler with him, for the ducks we picked up along the way. Quil had his bow, a larger, heavier compound bow then mine, and even more arrows; the two of us were the designated deer hunters while the others got duck. Between the two of us, we had gotten multiple deer over the years, and we also duck hunted or used rifles when it wasn't bow season.

While we hunted, we managed to get quite a lot of ducks, and Quil managed to get a large, 8-point buck. It wasn't until the end of the hunting session that I spotted a deer I would be able to get. He was larger than the deer Quil had gotten, with twelve points. Stopping, dropping my decoys, and getting into position, I knocked an arrow and aimed. The boys were quiet behind me, not scaring the deer away. Aimed and ready, I let go of the arrow and watched it fly through the air. It hit the deer in the shoulder. I quickly knocked another arrow, aimed, and shot, hitting the deer and bringing it down before it could run away. I smiled.

"Alright, Ana!" Jared said, running over to make sure the deer was dead. A quick shot to the head with his rifle killed the injured buck, and he waited for me to get over to it before bending down to inspect the buck.

"He's big," Paul said, looking impressed; this was the biggest deer I had ever gotten.

"Good job, Ana," Quil nodded.

Jacob kissed my cheek, whispering his praise into my ear, "That was amazing." I giggled silently and blushed before pulling the two arrows out of the deer. The arrowheads themselves were still in the deer, and would have to be cut out later.

"Okay guys, we have enough duck and deer to feed everyone at the party, let's get going," Jared said, slinging the deer over his shoulder and standing back up. We agreed and went back to the cars, Quil and I both claiming one deer and the other boys each claiming around fifteen duck.

O.O

After we got back to Jared's and my house, we sat in the back yard, skinning and slicing up the deer and duck, getting them ready to be grilled. I wrapped bacon around the pieces as they were handed to me after Seth washed them, putting them into one of multiple containers to be brought to the beach. After all of that was done, the others went home to shower and change while Jared and I loaded the containers into the back of Jared's truck. After that, we showered and changed before leaving for the beach. Of course, we picked up Kim on the way, who immediately hugged me.

"Happy birthday, Ana!" she squealed.

I fidgeted uncomfortably, "Thanks, Kim," until she let me go. We arrived at the beach quickly and got out, Kim going to join Emily at the already-built bonfire. Jared and I started to unload the truck but Jacob came over the minute he saw me and frowned when he saw me put down my three containers next to the grill Sam was standing at.

He caught me before I got back to the truck, encircling my waist and pressing his lips to mine. "Happy birthday, baby," he murmured when he pulled away, keeping us close.

"Thanks, Jake," I responded, knowing that Jacob was excited we were the same age, even if it was only until his birthday in March. He smiled and pressed another kiss to my lips, only pulling away when the others started to whistle. I laughed and turned to see who was here. The wolf pack minus Collin and Brady, Emily, Kim, Claire, Old Quil, Billy, and Sue. But not my mother. I sighed; she probably forgot; again.

"What's wrong?" Jacob asked softly. When I didn't answer, he looked around, and, seeing that my mom wasn't here, looked back to me. "You know your mom loves you."

"I know; I just wish I would see her more often. Ever sense dad died…" I trailed off, laying my head against Jacob's chest.

"I know," he answered, resting his chin on the top of my head, "But you know, and I know, that your mom loves you. Now no more feeling sorry for yourself; it's your birthday, and you're not allowed to be sad!" he gave me a stern look and I couldn't help but to giggle.

"Okay, no more feeling sorry for myself," I agreed, reaching up to kiss him again.

Jacob smiled and pulled away, "That's the spirit! Now come on, a lot of people want to see you before dad start the legends!"

With that, Jacob pulled me towards the others, who were all watching the two of us with smiles on their faces.

O.O

After the party, Jacob took me home, walking me up to the front door.

"So, I had fun at the party," I blushed.

Jacob smiled, "I'm glad; but before you go in, I still have my present for you."

"No, Jake, you didn't have to get me anything," I objected.

Jacob smirked and ignored me, pulling a rectangular-shaped box from his back pocket. "Don't worry about, Ani, I love you, and I can do whatever I want."

I giggled at the explanation and sighed, opening the box. Inside was a necklace with a beautiful charm on it, in the shape of a capital J. It had small, clear diamonds in it, each one glittering in the light of the front porch. I gasped, "Oh, Jacob, it's beautiful!" I looked back up at him, my eyes wide.

"Nowhere near as beautiful as you, though," he said, eyes shining.

I blushed and looked at the necklace for a moment before looking back at Jacob. The moment I did, he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine. This kiss was different from the other's we'd shared, more filled with love than any other, and still gentle. His lips slid over mine easily as he pressed me closer to him and wrapped his arms around my waist. My own arms went around his neck, one my hands tangling into his hair. He leaned back for air after a minute, but went back in a moment later, tilting his head to the side slightly.

The kiss was passionate, and slow, and I soon felt Jacob's tongue at my lips, asking for entrance. I opened my lips, allowing him to enter my mouth. I moaned at the sensation of him in my mouth, and all too soon, Jacob pulled away.

"Night, Ani," he whispered, pressing a final, soft kiss to my lips before pulling away and walking back down the street. I smiled slightly and slipped into the house, a blush coloring my face. Figuring it was time for bed, I went up to my room, placed the box with the necklace in it on my desk, and found an envelope on my bed. My name was written on it in a script I vaguely remembered to belong to my father. It was faded and old, but it definitely had my name on it. Sitting down on my bed, I hesitantly picked up the envelope and opened it. Out of slipped two things; a folded piece of paper, and a small baggy.

I picked up the paper first and unfolded it. My breath caught in my throat when I saw the letter, all in my father's script.

_My dear Anakin,_

_If you're reading this, then it means you're now sixteen years old, and I have died in the war. I knew when I left that day that I wouldn't come back, and so had your mother hold this until you were sixteen years old, which was when she was to give this to you. I'm sure you hate me for leaving you, and I assure you, that you have every right to. I am sure you have grown to be a beautiful young woman, and are capturing the hearts of all the boys in school. Hopefully, Jared is beating them all away with a stick. Ha ha. Anyways, I wrote this letter to let you know that I love you, and I always have loved you. _

_Enclosed with this letter is a bracelet. It has a wolf charm on it, which is the animal of our people. Everyone in our tribe is said to have their own wolf spirit, and this bracelet has been handed down from mother to daughter for many years in our family. Because my mother did not have a daughter, she gave it to me, and told me to give it the last woman I ever loved; I didn't understand her until I met your mother. She was the first woman I ever loved, and after she had you and we were told that she wouldn't be able to have any more children, I realized that you would be the last woman I would ever love._

_And so, I pass the bracelet on to you, and when you get married and have kids, you can pass it on to your daughter. Hopefully, that will be in a long, long time. I regret not being able to walk you down the aisle when you get married, but I'm sure Jared will do a great job when a lucky guy earns your love and asks for your hand in marriage. Secretly, Billy and I have been guessing that you and Jacob would end up together; you two were always best friends when you were little._

_I love you, my dear, sweet Anakin; my little girl. Always know that I'm watching over you, and I'm very proud of you. I hope I am always in your heart._

_Dad_

A few tears that had appeared while I was reading the letter spilled over as I finished it, and I re-read it multiple times before looking at the little bag. I opened it and spilled the contents into the palm of my hand. It was a small, metal band with a single charm on it. The wolf was russet in color, which I found ironic sense that was what color Jacob's fur was. I examined it closer, and found that it was hand-carved out of oak wood, making it strong and hard. On the back of the charm, were the initials, EB.

"Ephraim Black," I whispered. Jacob's great grandfather had carved the charm and given it to my father's grandmother. She then gave it to her daughter, who gave it my dad, who gave it to me.

I spent the rest of the night just sitting on my bed, thinking about the letter, the bracelet, and my father. What a weird ending to a birthday.

_**I know, really short, really crappy, but it was all I could come up with. Like I said, this story is ending soon, and then I'll start the story about Andy as a little kid. I'll update soon, hopefully not a month later. Wow that is a long time. Anyway, comment with any ideas, I need them! Like seriously, I need ideas! Please and thank you!**_


	12. New-Born Army

_**I'm so sorry this took so long. I can't promise it won't happen again, but I can promise that this story only has one more chapter after this one. I know, short, but I really want to concentrate on my Power Rangers stories, and that means starting Before Winter Came, which is the story of Andy as a child during the Mighty Morphin' era. Thanks to the following for commenting on the last chapter:**_

_**Guest**_

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_**brankel1**_

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_**Wow, I think this is the most comments for a chapter of this story, so far. Thank you guys. At 11 comments, I'm at 62 comments. That's five per chapter, on average. Some authors might not like that, but I'm okay with that! Just the fact that people even like this story makes me happy! So thank you! Okay, on with the story!**_

I wore the bracelet to school the next Monday, the second day of November. Jacob had picked me up, beaming when he saw that I was wearing the necklace he gave me, before he noticed the bracelet.

"Where'd you get that from?" he asked, picking my wrist up to examine the bracelet.

"I found a letter on my bed on my birthday, from my dad," I said, "Inside was this bracelet. Apparently, your great-grandfather carved it, gave it to my great-grandmother, who gave it to my grandmother, who gave it to my father because she didn't have a daughter, who then had my mother save it until my sixteenth birthday." I explained.

"My great-grandfather?" Jacob asked, confused, as he pulled into the school parking-lot.

I nodded and turned the charm over, "It has the initials EB carved into the back." Jacob parked and examined the initials, "Did you notice that this wolf is the same color as you when you're in wolf form?"

Jacob chuckled, "Yeah, I did notice that."

"Kinda ironic, isn't it?" I asked, slinging my backpack over my shoulder once I got out of the car. "I mean, that either means that Ephraim Black either knew that my great-grandmother's great-granddaughter would end up with his great-grandson who would be this color, or he happened to be this color as a wolf."

Jacob nodded in understanding, and slung an arm over my shoulder, "Well, either way, I think it looks great on you, " he said, leaning over and planting his lips on my cheek. I giggled.

The rest of that day went by really quickly, and soon, it was lunch time. I met the guys and Kim at the table with my lunch, sitting down next to Jacob.

"Hello," I said, kissing Jacob quickly.

"Okay, new rule; no kissing at the lunch table," Paul said around his mouthful of food.

"Okay, new rule; no talking with food in your mouth," I replied.

Everyone oh'd at my response, laughing. Jacob even kissed me again, just to prove a point.

"Okay, cool, make fun of the guy who just wants to eat without fear of puking," Paul grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

I laughed, "I'm just joking with ya, Paul, lighten up."

Paul only sent me a look, and I smiled cheekily back at him. After that, we just talked and joked around, although after only ten minutes of that, a loud howl sounded, making the guys all look up. Jared, the beta of the pack, stood up, his eyes traveling over all of us at the table.

"Paul, Embry, Quil, Jacob, Seth, let's go," Jared said, using his beta voice.

The boys all nodded and stood up.

"Be careful," I said to Jacob as he kissed me goodbye.

"I'll be careful; go straight to Emily's house after school, here are my keys," he kissed me one more time, shoved his keys into my hand, and left, Jared doing the same with Kim.

"Be careful, guys!" I called after them. Paul waved a hand at me, signaling that he heard and would pass the message, and I sat down.

"I hate it when they all have to leave at once," Kim mumbled, crossing her arms under her chest once the guys were gone, leaving the two of us.

"Yeah; I'm worried, what if it's something bad?" I asked as the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

Kim looked up at the noise and stood up, "Well, we'll find out in two hours. Let's just try to concentrate, fail miserably at it, and then drive to Emily's."

I nodded in agreement, "Good idea."

Attempting to pay attention and failing miserably at it was exactly what I ended up doing for my last two hours. Luckily, we just had to work on projects for both, so I didn't really need to concentrate all that much, but it became evident that my mind wasn't on what I was supposed to do when I realized I had been making the same ball of clay for the entire hour. I only shook my head and cleaned up, knowing that in my state of mind, I wouldn't be able to do much anyway.

By the end of the time seventh hour finally ended, I was ready to get out of there. I hurried to get my homework and get to Jacob's car, Kim doing the same with Jared's car, and I followed her to Sam and Emily's house. When we got there, we found Emily bustling around the kitchen, making cookies.

"Emily! What's going on?" I asked the minute Kim and I got into the house.

Emily shook her head, "I'm sorry, girls, I have no idea. But I find that when I'm worried about the guys, cooking helps keep my mind off of it," she smiled lightly at the end of her statement, although both of us could tell that she was still worried.

"I hope they're okay," I muttered, sitting down at the table.

"They'll be fine; they always are," Emily reassured. I nodded my thanks.

Over the next hour, I tried to do my homework, but my mind just wasn't on it. I ended up helping Emily with cooking, and found that she was right about what she said; it did take my mind off of things, and by the time the guys finally got back, we'd made about five batches of cookies. This time, Leah, Collin, and Brady were able to come as well.

When the guys finally got back, they explained to us that a red-head vampire had been creating an army of new-born vampires- that is, vampires that were recently bitten and couldn't control their thirst- and was coming here to try and kill Bella Swan, the daughter of Charley Swan, the chief of police. Bella's boyfriend was a vampire, Edward Cullen, and he had killed the red-head's mate because he tried to kill Bella. So she was out to get revenge, and the Cullen family needed the wolves' help.

Kim, Emily, and I were hesitant about it. We knew that we had no choice about it, but none of us wanted them to get hurt. In the end, we knew that nothing we did would stop them, so it was decided that when the fight was happening, Brady and Collin would stay here to protect the tribe, Seth would stay with Bella- who Jacob apparently used to have a huge crush on- while the others all fought off the new-born's.

Like I said, none of us girls wanted the boys or Leah to get hurt, but we had no control over what they did. So, when the day finally came for the boys and Leah to go and fight for their lives, we made sure that we were at Sam and Emily's early, and that we had time to make sure everyone was fed and threaten to kill anyone who didn't come back. They all laughed and promised they would come back.

The wait after they left was agonizingly slow. Emily kept herself busy by cooking. Kim read, and I played Pokémon on my old Gameboy. I ended up sitting next to an outlet so my Gameboy wouldn't die, and was finally at the elite four when Emily shouted, "They're back!"

Quick as I could, I saved my game and turned off the device, setting it on the floor as I stood up. The first through the door was Paul, followed by Embry. After him was Sam, who immediately hugged and kissed Emily. After Sam, Jared came through the door. I allowed Kim to attack him first, and when she let go, I hugged him, relieved my brother was okay. Quil and Leah came in after Jared did, followed by Seth, Collin and Brady. I kept my eyes on the door, waiting for Jacob to come through the door, but he never did.

"Where's Jacob?" I asked, my eyes brimming with tears. "Where is he?"

Leah sighed and took a step forward, "Ana, it, it was my fault. I got cocky and Jacob, he, well, Jake got hurt," she confessed.

My eyes widened and my tears spilled over, "What happened?"

"We thought we had all the new-born's, but we were wrong. One snuck up on Leah, but Jacob knocked her out of the way. The leech got its arms around him, and snapped the entire left side of his body," Sam explained.

"He's at his house, getting treated by Carlisle," Jared finished.

I didn't give them a chance to say anything else, for once I knew where he was, I bolted out the door. None of them followed me, although I heard a few shouts of my name.

When I made it to Jacob's house, I hurried up the front steps and pounded on the front door. Billy opened it for me.

"Ana, it's good to see you," he said, moving aside to let me in.

"Billy, is he alright?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

Before he could answer, the man I recognized as my doctor walked into the living room. "Jacob will be fine; I reset all of his bones, and he should be healed with-in the week." He looked at me, then, "Anakin, he's been asking for you; you can go on in."

I nodded, grateful, and hurried past the vampire- I had been explained to that the Cullen's only drank animal blood- and into Jacob's room. The sight that I met nearly made me breakdown right there.

Jacob was lying on his too-small bed, bandages wrapped around the entire left side of his body, and his eyes were closed. At first I was afraid he was dead but then I saw the rise and fall of his chest.

I approached his bed and kneeled next to his head, "Jake? Are you awake?"

Almost immediately, his eyes opened and focused on me, "Ana, you're okay," he rasped, sounding weaker than normal, which was to be expected.

I giggled softly and moved some of his wet hair from his face, not caring that he was drenched in sweat at the moment, "Me? I'm worried about you," I replied, "I mean, you snapped half the bones in your body."

Jacob chuckled, adding a painful gasp at the end, and reached out with his right hand to clutch at mine, "I couldn't let that leech get to Leah; besides, Carlisle says I'll be healed in a week; we're telling people I got into a motorcycle accident."

I rolled my eyes, "You just focus on getting better, okay?" I asked softly, "You'll be up and running in no time," I finished, standing up to leave and let him sleep, "Go to sleep, you need it."

"Wait," Jacob said, trying to push himself up. A few grimaces and grunts of pain later, and Jacob was sitting up in his bed, "Kiss me," he said.

"Are you sure, Jake? I don't want to hurt you," I asked, concerned.

Jacob rolled his eyes and nodded, "I'm sure, I'll be fine; please," he was practically begging, something I couldn't stand to see.

I sighed, "Fine, but if I hurt you, I'm blaming you," I said.

"I'll be fine, but I won't be fine if you don't kiss me already," he said, reaching out with his right hand to me.

I sighed again and leaned down to kiss him. He met me half way, and kissed me so lovingly that I was sure at that point that I was in love with Jacob Black.

When we parted, Jacob held me close to him and whispered, "I love you, Ana Cooper."

Not even hesitating, I replied, "I love you too, Jacob Black."

Jacob smiled widely at my confession and pulled me in for another kiss. I smiled into it and kissed back, allowing Jacob to fully envelope me.

_**I know, short and crappy, but there's only the epilogue left, and then this story is done! Hope you all liked it! =D**_


	13. Forever Road

_**First, I need to thank the people who ever commented on this story, as this is the last chapter, and it is because of all of you that I was able to finish, even if this is the thirteenth chapter. So, thanks go to these people:**_

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_**fifteen comments were under the name guest. Thank you to everyone who commented! Someone asked if I was going to do a sequel; the answer is, I don't know. Probably not, but we'll see. =D**_

__**Epilogue**

When I was a little girl, before my dad left, I thought that life would never get better. After my dad died, I thought that life could never get worse. When my friends and brother seemingly abandoned me when I was fifteen for a gang, I was proven that yes, my life could get worse. But when I found out the truth, I found that life could get better. When I found out that Jacob imprinted on me, and then rejected him, I felt so guilty that I thought that life had just gotten worse again. When I realized that I liked him back, I thought it couldn't get better. And when I realized that I was in love with him, I still thought that life couldn't get any better.

The night that Jacob proposed to me, the night of my graduation, he did it in a way that I never expected him to. Seth and I were having a joint graduation party at Sam and Emily's. At this point, Sam and Emily had gotten married and were expecting their first child. Jared had married Kim just three months before. Jacob's sister Rebecca had come home for Jacob's graduation the year before and Paul imprinted on her. They were engaged and got married a month after my graduation. Seth had imprinted and was working on getting the guts to tell her. Embry, Collin and Brady were in the same boat. Leah imprinted on an awesome guy who, as it turns out, had had a huge crush on her in high school. They were engaged, and Leah was no longer a bitch. Claire was six at this point, and Quil babysat her as much as he could.

After graduation, Leah, Kim, Emily, and Leah's husband kidnapped Seth and I after graduation and kept us busy while the other guys set up the party. They said that it was our graduation gift and they took us shopping. Leah's imprint took Seth to go get a nice shirt and jeans, while the girls took me to get a dress. I ended up with a purple-and-navy tie-dye sundress that fit comfortably and hugged my curves perfectly. When we finally got to Sam and Emily's house, Seth and I found a huge party set up in the backyard. Everyone was there; all of the wolves, the other imprints, Sue Clearwater, Billy Black, and, to my surprise, my mother. There was a huge banner stretched across the trees that said 'Congratulations Ana and Seth! You did it!' written on it. It was a huge surprise, and both of us were, well, surprised.

After a round of congratulating and lots of pictures, Jacob gestured for me to follow him. Curious, I obeyed, and followed him to the beach. What I found was absolutely gorgeous.

He had taken some lights and wrapped them around some trees, and even gotten a radio, with what I'm assuming was a mixed CD in it. It was playing soft, romantic music, and I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping open when I saw it. Jacob stood there in the middle of it all grinning.

"You like it?" he asked, stepping forward to grab my hand.

I nodded dumbly, "I love it, it's beautiful!" I exclaimed, "Did you do all this yourself?"

He smiled and nodded, "Yeah; it's a special night, and I wanted to make sure that I made as special as I could," he brought me close to him, pulling me flush against his body.

A blush colored my cheeks as I smiled up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck, "Well, you did a great job; it's beautiful, I can't imagine anything making this better," I said as Jacob slowly started to swing me back and forth to the music.

Jacob chuckled slightly and buried his face into my hair, keeping his hands at my waist. After only a moment, he backed up a step and put his hands on my shoulders, sliding them down to hold both of mine. His eyes were twinkling, although I could still see the nervousness in them. At the time, I wasn't sure why he was so nervous, but what he did next showed me just why he was so nervous.

Staring straight into my eyes, Jacob said, "Ana, over two years ago, I imprinted on you. At the time, you didn't know about us being wolves, and watching you get as miserable as you did hurt more than you could ever know. When you agreed to date me, I already knew that I loved you. When you finally admitted it to me, my heart soared. When you said you were in love with me, I knew I was going to marry you. The first time we made love, it was perfect, and I love feeling your body underneath mine. I love you so much, and I want to love you for the rest of my life," he said, never moving his gaze from my eyes.

Sliding down to one knee, Jacob slid a hand into his pocket and came out a second later with a black velvet box clutched in it. My mouth fell open again and I covered it with both hands, my blue eyes wide.

"Anakin Dakota Cooper; will you make me the luckiest and happiest man on earth and marry me?"

He opened the box, and inside was a gorgeous ring. In the middle of the silver band was purple colored gem stone, with two diamonds on either side.

"Jacob…," I breathed, "Y-yes; yes, I will marry you!" I finally got out.

Jacob's face lit up and he stood back up, allowing me to throw my arms around his neck in a hug. He laughed and hugged me back tightly. When he pulled away, he grabbed my left hand lightly and gently slid the ring onto my left ring figure. It fit perfectly.

"Oh Jacob, it's beautiful," I breathed, lifting my hand up to look at the ring.

He chuckled and slid his arm around my shoulders, smiling down at me, "I would hope so; this ring was my mother's, dad gave it to me a few weeks ago to give to you," he explained when I looked up at him. I felt tears fill up my eyes; this ring had been his mother's, and he was giving it to me? I felt touched.

Jacob and I got married a year later at the beach. Kim was my maid of honor and Jared walked me down the aisle. It was a beautiful ceremony, and Jacob and I were off to Hawaii that night. We visited his other sister, Rebecca's twin Rachael and her husband while we were there, but mostly we just basked in the glory that was being a newly-wed.

And now, here I am, eighteen years later, three children, and still happily in love with Jacob.

We had only been married for two years when I found out I was pregnant the first time. Both of us were excited about being parents, although we were both nervous that we would mess up, but we knew that we would get a lot of help from our friends. Nine months later, I gave birth to our first son, Isaac William, named after both of our fathers. A few months after Isaac was born, I found out I was pregnant again; only thirteen months after having Isaac, I had our second son. Jacob Ephraim Junior, also known as JJ. For four years, we were a happy family of four, and then I found out I was pregnant once again.

With my third and final pregnancy, I decided to not have a baby shower until after I had the baby. The other imprints didn't understand the choice, until I finally explained it to them. The ultrasound showed that the baby was going to be a girl. But ultrasounds aren't always correct, so I didn't want to risk having a baby shower and getting gifts for a girl only to have another boy.

In the end, I ended up having a little girl; Sarah Alexis was named after Jacob's mother, who had died only a little before my father. Sarah is a total daddy's girl, and both Jacob and our sons are fiercely protective of her. She found it annoying at times, but I loved how protective my sons were of my daughter; I knew in my heart that they would make great fathers one day.

Now, I couldn't help but smile as I watched my children interacting with everyone else's in my backyard.

The oldest of the children was Jason, Sam and Emily's eldest son, who was eighteen years old. He was the alpha of the pack, now filled with the children of the old pack. He was wrestling playfully with my nephew, Jared and Kim's son Conner, who was seventeen years old. Connor's twin sister Sadie was sitting with Leah's only child, seventeen-year-old Jessica. Paul's son- sixteen-year-old Luke- and Seth's son- sixteen-year-old Harry- were sitting near Jason and Conner, making bets on who they thought would win. At the same time, Paul's daughter- fifteen-year-old Korie- was talking with Seth's daughter- fifteen-year-old Megan. Isaac was wrestling with Embry's son, seventeen-year-old Gavin, and JJ was messing around with fifteen-year-old Halley- Sam's daughter. My own daughter Sarah was reading a book, the youngest in the group of the first eight wolves. The one closest to her age was Seth's youngest son Matt, who was twelve- two years older than her. Either way, they were the best of friends, and I wouldn't be surprised if Matt one day imprinted on her. Quil had only just recently married Claire, and she was currently three months pregnant with their first child.

In another little group were the four youngest children; Collin had two children with his imprint, five-year-old Aaron- the oldest- and three-year-old Erica. Brady's children were four-year-old Kylee, and two-year-old Cole.

As I watched all of our children playing, messing around, and talking to each other, I couldn't help myself. I sighed in content and leaned against the doorframe, my arms crossed under my stomach and a smile on my face. Jacob came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"You okay?" he asked, resting his chin on my shoulder.

I leaned into his embrace, "Yeah; just thinking," I answered.

"About what?"

"Life," I replied, "I can't believe that not even twenty years ago I was Isaac's age, falling in love for the first time; it seems like it was so long ago."

Jacob smiled and kissed my neck, "Well, it did; I still can't believe that you're so much stronger than me," he said. I giggled, "What? You held not one, not two, but three babies in your stomach for nine months each, and then pushed them out of you; that takes a lot of strength, and I don't think I could have ever gotten through all of that pain," he confessed before burrowing his face into my hair.

I giggled again and turned around so I was facing him. "Well, no matter what, I still say you're the strongest man on Earth, and no one can take that from you," I said.

Jacob smiled, "Well, you're a strong woman; stronger than me, that's for sure," he said before tipping my head up and pressing his lips to mine. We ignored the yells of disgust from our children, and continued kissing, before finally pulling away and staring back into the yard.

Both our sons had their backs turned to us while the others laughed at them. The look on our daughter's face showed that she had rolled her eyes at her elder brothers' immaturity and continued to read from her book. I only laughed; I was finally completely sure that there was no way life could get any better. I was the luckiest woman in the world, with a loving husband and three beautiful children. If I died right then and there, I would have died happy.

** The End**

_**Well, there you go! I hope you all liked the last chapter! Just so you don't get confused, here's all of the children, categorized by their parents.**_

_**Sam and Emily**_

_**~Jason- eighteen years old**_

_**~Halley- fifteen years old**_

_**Jared and Kim**_

_**~Conner and Sadie- seventeen years old**_

_**Paul and Rachael**_

_**~Luke- sixteen years old**_

_**~Korie- fifteen years old**_

_**Embry**_

_**~Gavin- seventeen years old**_

_**Leah**_

_**~Jessica- seventeen years old**_

_**Seth**_

_**~Harry- sixteen years old**_

_**~Megan- fifteen years old**_

_**~Matt- twelve years old**_

_**Jacob and Ana**_

_**~Isaac- sixteen years old**_

_**~JJ- fifteen years old**_

_**~Sarah- ten years old**_

_**Collin**_

_**~Aaron- five years old**_

_**~Erica- three years old**_

_**Brady**_

_**~Kylee- four years old**_

_**~Cole- two years old**_

_**If I end up doing a sequel, it would probably be with all of these kids. But at the moment I'm just going to concentrate on my Power Rangers story. Hope you all liked this story, and thanks a bunch for reading it! =D**_


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